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AN 



E S SAY 



PRACTICABILITY OF CULTIVATING THE 



HOJVE Y BEE, 



IN 



MARITBIE TOWNS AND CITIES, 



AS A SOURCE OF 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND PROFIT. 



^&> 



v-;. 



BY 



JEROxME V. C. SMITH, M. D 




BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY PERKINS AND MARVIN. 

NEW YORK : J. LEAVITT. 



1831. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1831, 
by Perkins & Marvijv, in the Clerk's Office of the 
District Court of Massachusetts. 



PREFACE. 



The following' Essay had its origin in consequence of giving 
a discourse the past winter, on the economy of the Honey 
Bee, at the Alhenteum lecture room, before the Society for the 
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Many practical observations 
and interesting physiological facts might have been added, 
which are purposely withheld, for the present, with a hope that 
further experience may give them more intrinsic value. 

This little work is not designed to interfere with those publi- 
cations on the Honey Bee already before the public ; nor is it 
supposed, even by the writer, to possess very high claims to 
patronage. Dr. Thacher's treatise is the best which has been 
published in this countr}', and when revised, and republished, 
as speedily anticipated b}' the author, may be considered the 
first manual of the kind, as respects utility, in the United Stales. 

The object of the Essay will be understood by reading the 
book. 

Quarantine Ground, Port of Boston, April, 1831. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Preface, 6 

Introductory Remarks, 9 

Method of beginning an Apiary in town, 15 

Localities for Bees in Cities, 19 

Plan and Elevation of an Ornamental Bee-house in the 

form of a prostyle temple, for glass hiveS; .... 24 

Swarming, 25 

Transferring Bees from one Hive to another, 32 

Mode of constituting a profitable family hive, 39 

The Bee-Moth, 41 

To extract Honey from the Comb, in quantities, .... 45 

To prepare Wax, after taking out the Honey, .... 45 

Method of managing Stock Bees in winter, 46 

To bleach yellow wax, 50 

Method of relieving the pain, on being slung, 50 

Method of supplying Bees with fresh water, 61 

Method of marking particular Bees, in and out of the hive, 

in order to ascertain their specific employments, . . 52 

Anatomy of the Honey Bee, 54 

Parts which can be distinctly seen under the microscope, . 55 

Physiology of the Bee, 59 

The Poison of Bees, 59 

The Anger of Bees, 61 

Language of Bees, 64 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Sleep of Bees, 66 

Longevity of Bees, 67 

Dr. Tliaclier's Letter to the Editor of the New England 

Farmer, 71 

Dr. Smith's Letter to Dr. Thacher, 72 

Dr. Thacher to Dr. Smith, 87 

Mrs. Griffith to Dr. Thacher, i 85 

Mrs. Griffith to Dr. Thacher, 91 

Remarks on Bees, by the Editor of the Vermont Chronicle, 97 

Appendix. 

Description of Dr. Thacher's Hive, 101 

" " airs. Griffith's Hive, 103 

" " the Frontispiece, 104 

'* " the Bee-house on p. 24, 105 



THE 



CULTIVATION OF BEES 



IN LARGE TOWNS AND CITIES. 



It Aras the opinion of Huish, a distinguished 
English writer on Bees, in 1817, that within the 
circumference of ten miles of London, ample pro- 
vision might be found for the support of ten thou- 
sand liives. 

The same remark is applicable to Boston, New 
York, Philadelphia, Albany, &-c., and yet, there is 
not, probably, five hundred swarms in the immediate 
vicinity of all these cities. An opinion is prevalent 
that nothing exists in a paved town, from which 
this industrious insect could select even enough 
for the support of its own domicile : this is an error, 
which one object of this essay is to correct, and 
thus prepare the way for a source of domestic 
economy, even in the country almost entirely neg- 
lected, and in maritime towns never attended to 
at all, because it is wholly unknown. 
1 



10 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

When the fact is understood, that bees go much 
greater distances in search of their appropriate 
materials, than is generally supposed, it will, at 
least, be one testimony in favor of housing them in 
town, as they bring from a distance, to their master's 
door, the sweets of distant districts. 

Several mistaken writers agree in remarking, 
that in foraging, bees rarely go more than a mile 
or a mile and a half from home ; this, my own ex- 
perience proves to be otherwise. On an island in 
Boston harbor is a hive of bees, in a flourishing 
condition, whose range cannot be less than three 
and four miles, in order to procure their full store. 
The island on which they are located has but few 
flowers at any time, and on the whole, presents, to 
the apiarian, a forbidding aspect. Notwithstanding 
these discouraging circumstances, the quantity of 
honey, from season to season, has been unexpect- 
edly large, and must, therefore, have been procured 
from neighboring islands as well as the main land. 
The nearest island, is one mile : on another, about 
one mile and a half distant, honey bees have been 
observed, in great plenty, when the white clover is in 
blossom. Indeed, a farmer informed me that he had 
repeatedly seen them arrive and depart for the 
island on which they so unexpectedly thrive. Hull, 
a small town, is at the distance of two miles, and 
Quincy about four, — from each of which places, 
judging from the numbers of returning bees, over 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 1 1 

the broad expanse of water, heavily laden with 
farina and honey, their burthens must have been 
brought. 

This relation at least shows that when obliged, 
by necessity, bees travel to considerable distances, 
— and also proves, that in cities, provided there 
were no flowerets for them to visit, they would go 
in search of them in the environs. But all cities 
have gardens, and some of them are of such extent, 
in Boston, particularly, that, unaided by the mil- 
lions of flowers, flourishing under every window, 
or springing up on the borders of the beautiful 
common, in my opinion, they would sustain, 
alone, a large number of hives. Again, there are 
an immense number of trees, in all cities, by the 
public walks, and in the grounds of all valuable 
estates, and in sufficient abundance too, to sustain, 
without cultivated gardens, hives enough to supply 
a portion of the population with a moderate quantity 
of honey. 

But when the trees exhaling sweet dews, the 
shrubbery, the flower gardens and the thousands of 
flower pots, yielding a rich perfume, are taken into 
consideration, it must be evident, that the paved 
city oflfers no objections to the successful and pro- 
fitable cultivation of the honey-bee. If any de- 
monstration is required, it need only be said that I 
have repeatedly exhibited a glass hive, containing 



12 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

over one hundred pounds, which was made in the 
heart of Boston, in a few summer weeks. 

Were it only for the gratification arising from 
the inspection of such a wonder-working- insect, the 
man of leisure would be amply compensated for the 
attention he might bestow on a hive, as a curiosity, 
had he no higher motive. Their untiring industry 
would constantly admonish the indolent, that by 
^^ industry we thrive," and perhaps, prompt some to 
make exertion, if in nothing else, in raising bees, — 
as there is always a prospect of gain, independent 
of their own personal labor. 

Again, in large commercial towns, there are 
men of overgrown fortunes, who, on retiring from 
the active business of life, with the expectation of 
enjoying the remnant of their days, find themselves 
unexpectedly disappointed in every attempt to be 
happy : the secret of their misery is this, — an idle 
man is always miserable. To such gentlemen, I 
would strongly urge the culture of the bee. — If 
they were not fond of the product, give it to the 
poor: — if they were not philosophers, they would 
insensibly, as apiarians, find themselves studying 
the great volume of nature, whose fair page has 
never before arrested their attention ; — and if any 
one should have the misfortune to be a skeptic or 
even tinctured with infidelity, his contemplations, 
on the habits and economy of the little honey-bee, 
would, at once, settle all his doubts. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. J 3 

Another inducement for engaging in the culti- 
vation of bees, in cities, arises from the consider- 
ation of the fact, that an ample return is speedily 
made for any moderate expenditure of money, in a 
most excellent, wholesome kind of food, at a rate, 
so much below an ordinary market price, as to 
make it an object, even with the ricli. 

To the middling classes of cities, — the truly 
laborious, who might, and who can attend to the 
raising of honey, without at all interfering with 
their ordinary business, this would, in the end, 
were it not a source of profit, be, at least, an easy 
mode of procuring a luxury. I am perfectly con- 
vinced that the laboring man can supply his family 
with rich, pure virgin honey, through the year, at 
less than one cent a pound, after he has sold 
enough to pay the first cost of his apiary. Honey 
is a substitute for butter, in some parts of oriental 
countries; and in this, were it afforded at a rate 
so moderate, that the poor, — that peculiar class of 
poor indigenous to cities, could afford to purchase, 
it would be a wholesome, useful substitute for 
butter, a part of the time, and at all seasons, prove 
a very valuable article in household economy. 
And lastly, if there were ever a surplus, in any 
family, it would have a ready sale. 

By some sad misapprehension, there is an im- 
pression abroad, that a profitable cultivation of bees, 
can only be undertaken in the country. One 
1* 



14 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

would suppose, in travelling tliroug-h New Eng- 
land, that they were wholly unknoAvn, in a great 
proportion of the large farming towns. Occasion- 
ally the eye discovers a miserable, poverty-stricken 
bee-shed, nailed to the gloomy side of some old 
barn, — tolerated, it Avould seem, by the farmer, as an 
hereditary appendage to his land, but he is apparently 
unconscious of the bee's renowned character for 
patient, profitable labor, even in the service of an 
unfeeling master. It matters not, whetlier the 
flowers from which the bee sips its honey, be at 
the foot of the hive, or in a neighboring village ; 
wherever they thrive best, there the bee wends its 
way, with unfailing success. Wild bees, whose 
home is a hollow limb, in the thickest of the forest, 
remote from cultivated fields, fill up, in process 
of time, the whole cylinder of a tree. The accom- 
plishment of this task, the more surprising, when it is 
recollected that few or no flowers are growing near, 
evidences the exceedingly persevering character of 
the creature under consideration. Enough has 
been said, though more arguments are still in reser- 
vation, when required, to convince those who may 
still have doubts, of the practicability of raising 
honey in great abundance, in the very heart of our 
principal cities.* 

* To (lie overseors of Houses of" Industry, and particularly 
the select men of country towns, I would urge the estab- 
lishment of an apiary, which might be exceediiiijly productive, 
under the careful management of the aged and infirm inmates 
of such establishments. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 15 

Let it be remembered, that wherever the bee 
may be placed, provided its liberty is unrestrained, 
whether in the dense, wild forest, the cultivated 
field, or in the thickly inhabited town, regardless 
of surrounding- circumstances, it pursues, with un- 
wearied toil, its characteristic routine of service for 
the common good, and fills its granary in the calm 
of summer, against the vicissitudes incident to the 
changes of seasons. 

Method of beginning an Apiary in town. 

In the vicinity of Boston, hives, of the ordinary 
kind, without regard to the quantity of honey they 
may contain, or the number of bees constituting the 
swarm, are sold for eight, nine and ten dollars. 
The price, with some, appears to be regulated by 
the size of the wooden box, containing the bees. 
This, however, is bad for the buyer, as the tremen- 
dous box may contain only a sickly, impoverished, 
half starved community, which, instead of supplying 
the purchaser's wants, or answering his expecta- 
tions, will be a source of anxiety and vexation. I 
have been imposed upon in this way, myself, and 
therefore caution others against a similar imposition. 
A board hive, some fifteen or eighteen inches 
square, by six in depth, independent of the top and 
floor-board, containing bees that appear lively, pour 
out in active abundance, when irritated, and weigh- 



16 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

lag in the "whole, from thirty-five to forty pounds. 
promises very well. 

The reader must understand, that this weight has 
reference to the early sprino'. It shows that enough 
of the old stock of honey remains, to sustain the 
inmates till the foraging season commences. Six. 
ten. and at farthest, twenty pounds of honey will 
feed a large swarm through the winter. The 
consumption of honey depends, in the first place, 
on the size of the swarm, and in the second, on 
the temperature of the weather. Several experi- 
ments, corroborated by the testimony of writers, 
shows that there are from 12.000 to 20,000 working 
bees, or females, and from 1,500 to 2,000 drones, or 
males, in a thrifty hive ; the number, after all, 
depending of course, on the magnitude of the box 
in which they are contained. Dr. Be van, a late 
writer on the bee, makes a similar estimate. Hives, 
purchased to begin a town establishment, will be 
found ill-shapen, rough, unfinished and incon- 
venient, but it is best to tolerate one of them one 
year, for the sake of the new swarms tlie follow- 
ing season, when the parent hive may be dis- 
pensed with, and the new bees lodged in such habi- 
tations as will answer the end in view, K, how- 
ever, the purchaser is adroit and fearless, he may 
at once drive his bees into a hi^-e. of that peculiar 
construction, hereafter to be described, from which 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 17 

he can, with impunity, take for his table, the pro- 
ceeds of their labors. 

Sometimes the attempt, by an unskilfiil operator, 
to shift a swarm from an old to a new hive, pro- 
duces such excitement and disorder, that they 
either at once abandon the new habitation, or be- 
come so discouraged and weakened as to be wholly 
unprofitable the first year. 

The proper time for moving hives from the coun- 
try to the town, or from one village to another, is 
early in the spring, — though, through all the winter 
months, when the bees are in that peculiar con- 
dition bordering on torpidity, which prevents them 
from resenting unusual commotion, the best oppor- 
tunities are presented. If necessary, in conse- 
quence of sudden fires in the vicinity, they can be 
moved in the heat of summer to other localities, if 
the precaution is taken to draw a sheet or close 
sack over the hive, in such a manner that none can 
escape. This observation is worth remembering, 
as circumstances, very frequently, perhaps, may 
compel the owner to move, unexpectedly, his hives 
at a moment's warning. A canvass case, made 
with reference to contingencies, would be particu- 
larly serviceable. If one bee makes its exit, others 
soon contrive to follow, and nothing can withstand 
their combined attaeis, when maddened to despera- 
tion. Should any of them get between the hive 
and sack, no danger will ensue, as they become 



1« CULTDATION OF BEES. 

quiet as soon the hive is at rest. Proper care 
should be had to a free ventdlation while moving, 
as they cannot survive lono' "withont pure, fresh air. 
Another excellent plan of moving hives safely, 
from the country, or from place to place in the door 
yard, consists in having trunk handles screwed to 
the sides, with which they can be safely carried by 
two men, without the least motion that would dis- 
turb the bees."* In case the hive is set in a broad 
clothes-basket, great precaution is necessary, or it 
will be upset. In a spring carriage, carefully 
driven, bees may be conveyed long joumies over 
the coumay. Such handles are so serviceable, in 
the course of managing an apiary, that no hive 
should be without tnem. Instead of closing the 
door-way, when moving hives, with a block, it 
should only be covered with coarse gauze or wire 
cloth, that a free circulation be not impeded. The 
heat of a middling sized iiive, if closed, is such, 
that the bees cannot live but a few hours. All in- 
sects, in proportion to the magnitude of their bodies, 



* Families in cities are frequeuUv cbau^in^ilieir residences. — 
but ihii^ is no objeciioii to keeping: bees, as ihe\ may t>e moved 
ai evening lo any olijei pan of ibe lown. where, on ihe Jo'low- 
iug monnus' ibey will begin the labors of the day as lijougii no 
change of placebad been efiecied. In France, bives are car- 
ried over ine country on spring carnages, for pasturage. 
Througii the dav. the' vi-aggi«i is ai rest, bat moves onward 
from ulnce lo place in ibe nigtit. The same ibing is dune in 
Eg>pi. wuere immense numbers of swarms are kepi in boats, 
wbicb are floated in the nighu up the ri\er Nile. — resting in 
the dav-time. 



CULTIVATION OF EEES. 19 

have a peculiar and striking developement of the 
respiratory organs : on this depends their surprising 
strength, and power of flying through the air, whilst 
sustaining a body, equal in weight to their own. 
Beside, the exhalation from their bodies, is copious, 
forming drops of fluid in autumn and spring, cours- 
ing down the sides to the floor. If the highways 
between the layers of comb are obstructed, as is 
sometimes the case, with multitudes of inactive 
bees, the fluid mixes and dilutes the honey, and 
sweeps off" whole phalanxes of bees by drowning. 

Localities for Bees in Cities. 

Without endeavoring to combat the vulgar preju- 
dice in favor of giving a south or south-western 
aspect to the bee-house, it is sufficient to remark, 
that actual experience warrants me in saying that 
the point of compass towards which the entrance to 
the hive is turned, is not of the least possible con- 
sequence. In a city, where dwellings are huddled 
together, and where spacious front or back yards 
cannot be afforded, it would be impossible always 
to give the same aspect to the hive ; fortunately, 
therefore, their success does not depend on this 
circumstance ; it has been well ascertained, that 
wherever breathing animals can exist, the bee may 
flourish, whether fronting the south or north. If a yard 
is small, but at the same time dry, that is enough : 
if, however, there are high brick walls, and a con- 



Of I CULTTVATiaS' OF BEES. 

tmual dampnea? ai the bottom, the pJace may be 
considered nnfavorabk , 

Wb? "!y coDvenien:. tne Dee-nouse snomc 

be ere:; . ^..-;r a tree, if ineTf- is one in-aiiT pan 
of the €nciosirre. as it answers tbe two-fold purpose 
of b«i»rr a deiisrbtnil shade in smmner. and a Tesrmg' 



Hre neitoer trees nor sfambberr. tbe cnltivaiOT 
fibonld lake ibe nre cannon to transDiant sometnmg. 

if It be noth" -oii-iflowers. irmcn baTe aspeedy 

orrowtn : ■: ^ tbe yoimr broods, as tbey 

make tneir esji. findmr Jiothinr prominent on 
"wiuch. to rest tbe soles of tbeir feet, are apt to rise 
iifh in tbe arr. and tben take a bonzontal 
TtitrfiT of several nuies before tbey aligbt. IBem^ 
Tn img and nnaccnstomed to tbe wmg. tbey are 
Teadirr mdv er on tbe limb of a ■ 

tree, if wi-:__. __ aerate dismnce of i-. .._ 

iiive. 

Probably tn£ srarret of a ionse. ^vrere it equally 
cor- woiiic "be tbe best of all places in a 

CI" ^s."^ TVitL sc maci. room before tbem. 

iDC Greaeeee Far- 
joe -riner. m 1ms citj. 



jn I 



-^mr've'^ frmrr tin? c o unt v 1r 



we: 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 21 

and a few small orifices, through which they mig ht 
get into the open air, they never would swarm, till 
the whole garret waa completely stored with comb, 
an event by no means likely to happen. 

Hives placed on the high, flat roof of a shed, 
suitably shaded by a temporary roof of boards, to 
protect them from the scorching rays of the sun, 
are always thrifty and healthful. This is owing, 
probably, to the purity of the atmosphere, at a dis- 
tance from the ground. The bee is an orderly, 
systematic insect, exclusively devoted to its own 



house, and for ihe want ot" a better place he put his swarm of 
bees iuto the gairet, where they remaiued till spriug:. 

Amonii^ the many cares of a remove into ihe wildprness. he 
forgot his bees, and neg'lected to place them out of doors, as is 
ihe custom ; but wiih the return of spring, and the opening of 
the wild flowers of the wilderness, they diil not forget their duly, 
but ' gathered honey every day from every opening flower," 
until the liive was fall to overflowing. They found abundant 
passage between the logs of the house. When the hive was 
full, instead ot' swarming and going off, they merely removed 
a few feel from the old hive, attached themselves to a log ia 
the same room, and went to work; others attached themselves 
to the outside of the hive, and continued their operations in open 
view in this manner, for several years. When the family 
wanted honey, they went into the room and broke off what 
comb they required, witlioui molestation. Having abundant 
room in the garret, they never left it in swarms. It is probable 
that the room was nearly dark, but of this I am not informed. 
From this circumstance, the inhabitants when they build their 
houses, finish off a small light room, in the garret, or other 
convenient part of the house, exclusively for the bees, with 
timbers or braces to which they can attach the comb, having a 
tight door to the room, to exclude mice, tScc^ and 1 understand 
they are not molested by ihe bee-moth or miller. I could much 
enlarge upon this subject, but time does not permit, and it is 
quite sufficient for a practical maa to improve the hint.'' 
o 



22 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

personal concerns ; it is therefore the more impor- 
tant to give it a station where it will be the least 
liable to interruptions. In the yard, the remot- 
est corner would be the most proper spot, at a 
distance from the pump, if there be one, so that in 
passing to and fro, the bees would not feel particularly 
annoyed. When a hive is kept in a state of alarm, 
by the tormenting ingenuity of mischievous boys, 
the time in which they would be ranging over the 
city in search of honey, Avill be lost in defending 
their premises. Every yard, if it is but ten feet 
square, has a corner in which a hive may stand 
safely, and at a sufficient distance, not to be any in- 
terruption to the family : neither would the family, 
in a short time, be any interruption to them. How- 
ever, Avhere there is any repugnance to introducing 
such a belligerent power into a very small enclo- 
sure, on account of small children, it would by all 
means be advisable to set the hive either on a 
shed or in the garret of the house, — the latter, 
decidedly the best bee-house that could be con- 
structed. 

Most of the preceding remarks, relative to the 
locality of an apiary, have reference to such tene- 
ments as are in the occupancy of the poorest classes 
of citizens, but who possess the appetites of the 
Avealthy. Farmers, in the country, construct very 
simple hovels for the protection of their hives, often 
a mere board, reaching from the ground to the top 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 23 

rail of a fence. Almost the only object seems to be 
to prevent the heat of the sun from melting down 
the flakes of comb. Simple as this contrivance is, 
it is much better than nothing, yet altogether un- 
suitable. If water gets through the seams, the 
honey will not only become diluted, but be washed 
away. 

When the hive or the bee-house is poorly built, of 
shaky boards, or with open joints, the bees are 
obliged to bestow so much labor in mending up 
their crazy dwelling, that much valuable time is 
actually lost to the owner, as the same time, had he 
done his duty, at first, would have been spent in 
the more pleasant employment of collecting honey- 
dew. Any person having ingenuity enough to use 
a handsaw and hammer, could erect a very comfort- 
able weather-house, in the course of an hour. 

Gentlemen, on the other hand, owning pleasant 
estates, who are not under the necessity of chang- 
ing their habitations, and who are desirous of com- 
bining taste with permanent improvements, should 
have edifices for their hives, corresponding to 
the appearance of their own dwellings. The apiary 
under such circumstances, should be particularly 
ornamental, combining tiie advantages of being an 
interesting object, constructed, also, to gratify the 
eye, in watching those delicate operations in the 
interior of a glass hive, which have so much aston- 
ished philosophers, from the first records of civilized 
man, down to the present period. 



Plan and Elevation of an Oinamontal 'Bee-house, in the form of a 
prostyle temple, for glass hives. 




CULTIVATION OF BEES. 25 

Various models have been exhibited, for these 
edifices, denominated prostyle temples, — having an 
elegant, well proportioned dome, supported on sev- 
eral neatly wrought pillars. When such a building 
is made to accommodate only one hive, its diameter 
on the floor should be not far from four feet, by 
four or four and a half in height. This should be 
well framed, particularly if a glass hive, yet to be 
described, is ever to be placed in it. Cross trees, 
on the under side, fitted to the top of a cedar post, 
well and firmly set in the ground, will sustain it 
against the force of driving storms. 

The object in elevating the temple, on a single 
column, is this, viz. : if it were simply placed on the 
ground, thousands of insects, spiders, moths and 
noxious worms, attracted by the delicious odour of 
the new made honey, would eventually storm the 
hive, and take .possession of the premises. The 
elevation of about three feet, is convenient for pur- 
poses of examination : in the next place, creeping 
vines, rose bushes and other ornamental shrubs 
can be so planted round the base, that the floor of 
the temple Avill have the poetical appearance of 
actually resting on a bed of flowers. 

Swarming. 
Such is the order of things, in the economy of 
the honey-bee, that in the commencement of sum- 
mer, there is thrown off from the parent hive, one, 
2* 



26 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

two, three, and sometimes four swarms or inde- 
pendent families of young ones, who immediately, 
after being housed, commence operations for 
themselves, or if not molested or secured by arti- 
ficial management, seek out a secure retreat in 
hollow trees, fissures of rocks or in the obscure 
corners of decaying buildings. In anticipation, 
therefore, of this event, the apiarian should have 
several new hives on hand, — the construction of 
which, as will be noticed in the sequel, is of im- 
mense importance. The sure, indeed, almost un- 
failing precursors of swarming, are these, viz. : for 
several days, there is an unusual commotion in the 
hive : the bees cluster on the lighting board, in 
front of the entrance, in masses, oftentimes the 
size of a quart measure, and at night-fall, retire 
again wdthin, as usual. On the following, or second 
morning, if the weather is clear, — if the sky is 
cloudless, the confusion increases to a prodigious 
degree, and suddenly, a surprising column of bees 
hurry in one simultaneous movement towards the 
door, rising in the air, equally suddenly, and within 
a very few minutes, present the novel spectacle of 
thousands of bees all on the wing, flying in whirls, — 
so that the mass resembles, in outline, a globe of 
some thirty or forty feet in diameter. During this 
ejection of the children from the parental roof, all 
business of the ordinary kind, appears to be sus- 
pended. The old bees dart to and fro, in a most 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 27 

angry manner, driving the young from the hive, if 
they attempt returning, when the weather offers 
no obstructions to the success of the flight, and 
forcing them further and further from the place of 
their birth. The young brood continue thus whirl- 
ing over, or very near the old hive, till all their 
associates have been assembled in the ring, when, 
with an unexpected start, to the spectator, the 
"whole body, unless at the very moment arrested, 
are lost without redemption. This, indeed, is the 
trying moment for the apiarian ; if he is successful 
in obliging them to light, they can be at once 
housed in a new hive, — which is no sooner accom- 
plished than good order, even in the new swarm, 
immediately ensues. The mass begins to climb up 
the walls, and stragglers constantly arriving, join 
their lately agitated clansmen. 

New hives need no other preparatory fixing, 
than to be clean and tight, — so that light and rain 
cannot penetrate them. From the middle of May, 
in this section of the country, to the middle of July, 
new swarms are given off: this, however, very 
much depends on the good or bad condition of the 
stock hive, which has been wintered over. 

A good hive, and such a one as can be relied 
upon, contains, on an average, from 12 to 20,000 
working bees, which are females ; and from 1,500 
to 2,000 drones, or male bees. Early swarms may 
be anticipated, if there has been a plenty of honey 



28 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

to sustain the bees through the winter : on the con- 
trary, if the laborers are few, and they have become 
debilitated by famine, a late swarm only need be 
looked for, if one appears at all. Bees very fre- 
quently supply their losses, after a severe calamity^ 
by incorporating the young ones into their feeble 
ranks. Two swarms, for a general rule, may be 
expected from a hive of the first description. 
Usually bees swarm from about ten to half past 
eleven o'clock in the morning, and only in fair 
weather. 

Sudden showers of rain will arrest their design 
at once, even if the whole swarm are getting on the 
wing. A knowledge of this fact has been seized 
upon by cultivators, to collect them from the air, in 
order to cover them with a hive. 

For this purpose, a large pewter syringe, perfo- 
rated at the distal extremity, with many holes, like 
the top of a pepper box, is an admirable instrument 
for controlling their erratic movements. By throw- 
ing water into the air pretty freely, and if neces- 
sary, an assistant should be plying a second one, 
when the swarm are disposed to be refractory, their 
wings are wet, and the bees instinctively endeavor 
to escape the impending danger, by settling doAvn 
into a solid mass on some prominent or projecting 
body near by, as the limb of a tree, the top of a 
post, the corner of the house, brake of a pump, or the 
back of a chair. When they have fairly lighted, if 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 29 

they attempt a second flight before the hive is in 
readiness, the engine must play a few times more, 
and, indeed, as often as circumstances seem to 
require, till the process of hiving has been fully 
completed. 

Another method, often successfully practised by 
apiarians, consists in throwing up sand, freely into 
the air. Whether the bees are induced to light, 
in consequence of the injuries they are receiving 
from the stony particles, or in consequence of 
fright or a presentiment of an approaching storm, 
has not been determined. It is decidedly most 
philosophical to resort to the water, which, always, 
if properly managed, is sufficient to control their 
movements, just as may be desired. By the wet- 
ting, they sustain no permanent injury, whereas, 
by the sand or gravel, they are liable to be both 
maimed and killed. The vulgar notion that it is 
necessary to ring bells, rattle tin pans, or blow 
horns, is based on the supposition that the bee has 
an ear organized like a man's, and that through 
this highly developed sense, its mind — its reasoning 
powers are to be operated upon through the in- 
fluence of fear ! If they could recognize the 
hoarse vibrations of many domestic utensils brought 
into requisition at some country farm houses, in 
swarming time, there is no doubt they would be 
frightened! Nothing can be more absurd than 



30 CULTrV^\TION OF BEES. 

this procedure, which does no more towards hous- 
ing the bee, than it does towards staying the tides. 

Bees have been known, after having risen in 
tlieir characteristic manner, to settle, almost in- 
stantaneously on the head of a person. This cir- 
cumstance, however, rarely happens, when there 
are any bushes or projecting points from surround- 
ing buildings. When such an accident does occur, 
let the individual be instructed to remain firmly in 
the spot, without moving his limbs more than may 
be absolutely necessary, till some one reaches a 
lighted pipe or cigar, for him to smoke. The 
odour of smoking tobacco is so intolerably offen- 
sive, that they are actually obliged to rise immedi- 
ately or die of suffocation. As the outer circles 
rise, to keep from the influence of the narcotic 
vapour of the pipe, they settle, without much pre- 
liminary ceremony, on the nearest projecting body, 
let it be what it may. This is the time for secur- 
ing them within a hive. 

In the act of swarming, the manager should be 
cool and collected. Any useless exertion, excit- 
ing the rapid circulation of the blood, increases in 
the same ratio the exhalations from the surface of 
the body, always unpleasant to the honey-bee. 
The perspiration of the human bod}^ is particularly 
offensive to the minute organs of the bee. As the 
perspirable matter is different in different persons, 



CULTIVATION OF BEES, 31 

it at once explains the reasons why they have such 
strongly marked antipathies to certain individuals. 
Indeed, this manifestation of dislike towards some 
persons, is so remarkable, as to give the uncon- 
scious offenders the strongest prejudices against 
this interesting architect. I have noticed several 
seamen, in passing the apiary, as they were on the 
way to my office, stop for a moment, to a^ atch their 
proceedings. Almost instantaneously, the bees 
would pursue some two or three, out of half a 
dozen, with unrelenting fury, stinging whenever 
they could get a hit at any part of their bodies : 
the others, perhaps, might stand viewing them, and, 
indeed, look into the hive, by raising it, without 
being even noticed by those, which had been raging 
after their companions. 

Should it so happen that a swarm fixes on the 
limb of a high tree, too large to be sawed off, and 
lowered conveniently to the ground with ropes, the 
hive should be slung in the noose of a rope, thrown 
over a still higher limb, which is a pully, — the 
lower end of the rope being in the hand of some 
one at tlie foot. By pulling or slacking, the empty 
hive may be thus carried within a few inches of the 
consolidated bees. When every thing is ready, a 
man in the tree, having a broom or brush made 
fast to the extremity of a long pole, gently brushes 
them off, by masses, into the elevated receptacle. 
Under such circumstances, the bees may be han- 



32 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

died •with the bare hands, with impunity. The 
moment the mass has been swept in, the person 
holding the rope, slacks it, gradually lowering the 
hive to the ground, where a table is in readiness 
to receive the hive when inverted. Although the 
bees may appear to be almost us numerous out, as 
inside, shortly after it has been set on the table, 
they become less noisy and more composed. Per- 
haps many handfulls may cluster on the outside, as 
though determined not to take up their abode 
within. If brushed away repeatedly, they finally 
accept your proposition, and enter the door towards 
evening. Any refractory conduct may be over- 
ruled by the syringe and cold Avater. 

The ingenuity of the cultivator of bees will be 
frequently called into requisition, in the course of 
the swarming season. No arbitrary rules can be 
given which may be implicitly relied upon. Much 
of the success depends on the calm, fearless man- 
ner of the manager of these operations. The ex- 
perience of one year will suggest various processes 
and improvements, some of them, perhaps at 
variance with these remarks, but if they promise 
utility, let them have the preference. 

Transferring Bees from one Hive to another. 

The only advantage accruing from this operation, 
consists in locating the bees in a house, either 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 33 

more spacious, and convenient to themselves, or in 
having them in a condition to be inspected, or to 
obtain their honey. 

In moving a swarm from an old hive, where they 
have constructed comb, great caution is necessary. 
Any one, having a tolerable acquaintance with 
their general character, may safely undertake the 
business. If, for instance, a swarm is badly lodged 
in an old, leaky, decaying box, it is desirable to 
transfer it to an improved one, or at least, to a hive 
less under the annoying influence of noxious 
insects : the best method is to lift off", suddenly, 
the top board or roof of the old box, if of the com- 
mon fashion ; if on the other hand, it is constructed 
of straw, let the top or apex of the hay-stack shaped 
hive, be quickly sliced off with a broad sharp knife. 
At the same moment, clap the other hive directly 
over the opening. 

Evening is decidedly the best time to perform 
the operation, from the latter part of March, till 
about the middle of April. Later than this, would 
be to the certain destruction of the eggs, which 
are in the state of rapid growth. 

Previously to placing the new hive, as directed, 
the cross rods should be passed through two or 
three flakes of comb, well filled with honey. The 
sticks give the pieces support, in the middle of the 
hive, besides exposing all sides to the bees. As 
3 



34 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

soon as they enter, the comb, thus suspended, 
appears the first object of their regard. 

Every thing, then, being in perfect readiness, let 
a dish be set near the lighting board or threshold, 
filled Avith burning leather, old shoes, bits of oakum 
or saw dust, it matters not which, and the smoke 
blown in at the orifice, by a pair of hand bellows. 
A very gradual introduction of smoke is all tliat is 
required, as the bees, as soon as they perceive the 
existence of the smoke, for the preservation of their 
lives, creep very quickly towards the upper part of 
the hive. Finding no obstruction to farther pro- 
gress, they finally soon arrive where they are de- 
sired : a shingle, or what is better, a sheet of tin, 
now slid between the two hives, prevents their 
return to their original abode. Whenever, as 
nearly as can be ascertained, a majority have en- 
tered the new hive, the old one may be taken away, 
and the new one set down on a table. By plying 
the smoke freely, the tenacious adherents to the 
old hive w^ill be forced to leave, and soon join their 
persecuted fellows. 

Sometimes, from inexperience or want of tact 
on the part of the operator, considerable numbers 
are suffocated: but this is unnecessary and even 
cruel. With a few puffs of smoke from a pipe, a 
person accustomed to bees could drive a whole 
apiary before him. When the bees have surveyed 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 35 

the interior, and in fact, the exterior also, of their 
new habitation, without manifesting regret for 
their loss, they begin with alacrity to put the hive 
in the proper condition. 

If the hive be constructed of two boxes, one set 
directly over the other, or as is sometimes prac- 
tised, the hive is made up of a series of boxes, 
either the bottom, or any intermediate one can be 
removed, by the same course. 

Bees, like all insects, breathe through minute 
holes in the sides of their bodies ; if the air, of 
which they consume a great quantity in a little 
time, is wanting in vitality, or is loaded with 
poisonous vapours, they die in a few minutes. 
When hives, in autumn, are suffocated with sul- 
phur, the bees are all killed by inhaling it, while 
burning. 

I shall devote the remainder of this chapter to 
giving directions for housing bees in glass hives, 
for the purpose of inspection, with reference to 
studying their habits, their labors and their gov- 
ernment. 

Having had considerable experience in manag- 
ing them in glass globes, I can with confidence 
recommend the following plan. 

Over a common wooden hive, having a broad 
surface at the top, through which a hole about one 
inch in diameter has been made, turn a glass globe 
of any dimensions. Over this globe, which should 



36 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

be made of pure flint glass, have a carefully adjust- 
ed case or box, of wood, tliat will exclude all light. 
Through the sides of this case, have several doors, 
neatly fitted and hung with hinges. From the 
top of the globe, on the inside, tliere should be a 
perpendicular rod, with cross bars, at suitable dis- 
tances, to attach the future comb. In blowing the 
globe, a hole in the centre should be made, through 
which the end of the rod may come, on the upper 
side, to be keyed. Nearly three inches from tliis 
centre, there should be another opening, like the 
mouth of a phial, perhaps one inch in diameter. The 
object of this second orifice, is, in the first place to 
serve as a ventilating window, allowing a circula- 
tion of air through the hive ; and secondly, for the 
purpose of introducing smoke, brushes, paint, &.c. 
in the course of a series of philosophical experi- 
ments. A globe holding from ten to fifteen quarts, 
will answer very well, though I have one, that 
holds almost a bushel of grain. The size should 
be proportioned to the magnitude and thrift of the 
swarm M^hich is set apart for philosophical purposes. 
I have, for the last four years, smce inventing 
this contrivance, been able to witness the process 
of constructing the cells, depositing the honey, 
feeding the young, setting the guards, and the like 
interesting operations. Before I hit on this par- 
ticular plan of a hive, the bees often died for want 
of air ; the heat was so great as to completely 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 37 

destroy the eggs before the worm was per- 
fected ; — and moreover, the bees were never wil- 
ling to go into it, unless compelled by a severe 
course of discipline. Notwithstanding what writers 
and farmers may say to the contrary, the bees will 
not plaster over the glass in such a manner as to 
destroy the observer's view of the interior. Hives 
constructed with perpendicular or inclined flat walls 
of pane glass, are in danger of being besmeared 
with propolis ; but globes, close and careful ob- 
servation warrants me in saying, are rarely, if ever, 
covered by the bees, even if the light is admitted 
an hour or two at a time, daily, through the honey 
harvest. 

Ordinarily, in a good season, such globes as have 
been described, will be filled, if too many experi- 
ments are not instituted, in five, and from that to 
seven weeks. When the season of observation has 
passed, and the bees are no longer travelling 
abroad, but give indications of making preparations 
for winter, if it is an object to preserve the globe, 
with its splendid waxen city, for exhibition, draw a 
small wire between the edge of the glass and 
wooden hive, to cut the comb from its connexion 
with the top board of the bottom hive, turn it bot- 
tom upward in a basket of hay, that it may not be 
broken, and wait for the bees to fly into the original 
hive. So simple and easy is this, in the cool of an 
3* 



38 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

October morning-, that smoke, in self defence, is 
wholly unnecessary. 

In the wooden box there is usually honey enough 
to sustain the bees till the next working season. 
The evidence of the fact, is that the globe is full. 
If, however, there are any doubts on that point, let 
the box be raised a little, to be inspected. The 
following year, another globe may be placed over 
the same box, and thus the hive will not only, in 
the end, prove very productive, but gratify the most 
zealous entomologist with a bird's eye view of the 
interior. A hive, under such circumstances, rarely 
throws off new swarms. 

Upon the same principle, a quart or pint tumbler 
can be turned over an inch hole in the top of almost 
any hive, secured from the light, to answer the de- 
mands of the family. Every few days the tumbler 
will be filled, and another should be substituted in 
its place : in this way, continually alternating, a 
constant supply of delicious, fresh made honey, may 
be secured for the use of the table. 

It is best, notwithstanding the above remarks, on 
a simple mode of securing the almost daily pro- 
ducts of the apiary, to have both hive and bee-house 
of the best construction. 

In town, where the apiary is located in a fine, 
airy yard, the exterior should exhibit, as before 
remarked, a proper degree of taste as well as con- 
venience. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 39 

Mode of constituting a projit able family hive. 

Under some circumstances, there is more advan- 
tage to be realized in keeping but one hive, if it be 
of suitable magnitude, than in attempting the cul- 
ture of half a dozen. Bees may be kept from 
swarming, just as long as they have any spare room 
in which new cells may be constructed. Such is 
their instinctive economy, that young bees on com- 
ing into existence, begin to labor, and are not ejected 
from the parental roof, but are assimilated to the 
old stock, from time to time, as long as the Avant of 
more laborers is indicated. 

The greater the number of active laborers, as in 
all other social communities, the greater and more 
certain is the product in a given time. As a gene- 
ral course, in cities, I am inclined to the opinion, 
that one hive, to a moderately sized family, is 
enough. First, because it will occupy less room in 
a yard, perhaps already too small for health ; and, in 
the next place, there is no danger of losing swarms of 
young bees, as none, if managed as they can be, 
will ever desire to leave. Give the bees but room 
enough, and their numbers will go on increasing to 
a truly surprising degree ; they will never swarm, 
to diminish the strength of the hive, but, on the con- 
trary, by such continual additions of new hands, 
will astonish and gratify the inexperienced apiarian 
with their accumulating riches. 



40 CULTIVATION OF BEES, 

Of all the contrivances which the prolific inge- 
nuity of our countrymen has presented the public, 
for both comfortably housing and getting the honey, 
as it is made, Avithout detriment to the bees, the 
hive recently constructed by the distinguished and 
venerable Dr. James Thatcher, of Plymouth, has 
the decided superiority over all others. 

The Thatcher hive is completely calculated for 
this continual increase of bees, and is therefore the 
only one which is worth using in town, under such 
circumstances as have been defined: a moderate 
swarm, in three years, in one of these valuable hives, 
so well adapted to their increasing condition and the 
requirements of a family, will become exceedingly 
formidable. I have a hive, at this time, which has 
never swarmed. Dr. Thatcher, who examined 
it the last autumn, considered it the largest he had 
ever seen : indeed, he doubted whether there Avas 
a more populous hive in the commonwealth. This 
swarm, judging from Avhat I saw from day to day, 
must have collected about two pounds of honey, 
every pleasant day, for a long time. 

At the close of this essay, a particular description 
of Dr. Thatcher's invention will be given, and I, 
beg here to express a hope that it will eventually 
be in exclusive use in the United States. The 
Charlieshope hive, the invention of that philosophi- 
cal and ingenious lady, Mrs. Mary Griffith, of New 
Jersey, a model of which was forwarded to the 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 41 

Horticultural Society, though meriting attention, 
falls far below the other, in point of value. A 
description of it, however, will also be given. 

For a large country apiary, Mrs. Griffith's hive pos- 
sesses some trifling advantages over Dr. Thatcher's, 
and those regard the ventilation, principally, of the 
bees in the heat of summer. Those hives hawked 
about by pedlars, and quack farmers, as patents, 
have no claims to respectful notice. To buy them 
is actually foolishly wasting money. The more 
simple the hive, the more perfect, and therefore the 
more deserving. 

But after all that I have written, thus far, on the 
character of the hive, I think more highly of the 
garret of a house, in which the bees are permitted 
to enjoy their unrestrained liberty, than all the 
contrivances in the world beside. 

The Bee-3Ioth. 

Great lamentations are heard about the bee-moth, 
(PhalcEna (tinea) cereanea,) a small grey miller, 
whose devastations in the New England States 
have been described as absolutely frightful. That 
it does torment the bees, there is no question ; but 
that all the damage accruing to them, attributed to 
it, are really chargeable to its account, admits of 
some doubt. Attracted both by the odour of the 
honey, and an instinctive desire of depositing its 
eggs in a spot where the forth-coming worm may 



42 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

find a sufficiency of appropriate food, the moth runs 
the hazard of its own life, in running the gauntlet 
to get into the hive. The hatching of tlie moth's 
egg is effected by the heat of the hive, in the same 
manner and nearly in tlie same time that is required 
for maturing the eggs of the bee. As soon as the 
grub makes its exit from its enclosure, the tunics of 
tlie egg, it begins to gnaw its way forward, regard- 
less of all opposition, — taking in its track, honey, 
comb, the larvse of bees, and the bodies of those 
that happen to get within reach of its strong man- 
dibles. Subsequently to this voracious commence- 
ment, it secures itself in a thick, soft case, of its 
own elaboration, where, out of the reach of stings, 
it is changed ultimately, to the winged insect, 
capable, like its progenitor, of continuing the 
species. 

Disorder and disaffection soon shows itself 
amongst the laborers ; tlie destruction of property, 
collected with so much care, rouses them to the 
highest pitch of revenge. Effort after effort is 
made, en masse, to expel the intruding foe ; but if 
they are unsuccessful, which is sometimes the case, 
obviously discouraged, the swarm either gradually 
dwindle to insignificance, or unanimously resolve 
to seek, iii a body, a new and more desirable resi- 
dence.* 

* A gentleman of this cny who has made himself very familiar 
with the natural history of the honey-bee, S. Elliot Green, Esq. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 43 

Many interesting facts, corroborative of these 
remarks, are recorded in various agricultural publi- 
cations. Such has been the destruction, we are 
credibly informed, of honey-bees, in the interior of 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut, 
that farmers have become heartily discouraged in 
their attempts at cultivation, and, lamentably, ap- 
pear almost to have abandoned them entirely. A 
very simple plan, and sometimes it is eminently 
successful, consists in placing a burning lamp in a 
pail, near the apiary. I have been quite successful 
in taking prisoners by this device, in the early part 
of the evening. A keg, because it is smaller at the 
top, by reason of the incurvation of the staves, hav- 
ing, in the mean time, but one head, is the best 
trap. Some fresh honey or if not readily obtained, 
even molasses, spread over the bottom, is the bait. 
A\\ insects are particularly charmed by a brio-ht 
light ; and none of them more than the bee-moth. 
As soon as they discover the light, they fly towards 
it. Another sense, which is probably strongly de- 
veloped, smell, is gratified by the odour of food ; 
and hence they have a doable inducement to enter 
into the trap, v/here the blaze of the lamp on their 
thin spread wings gives them a finishing blow, and 

informs me lliai in an apiarv in which he i()rmer!y look a deep 
interest, he prevented llie liepredaiions of ihe nnotli, to a con- 
siderable extent, hy frequently changing the floor board of the 
hive. He sonietimes inserted two or three clean planed boards 
in one season. 



44 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

tumbles them into the bottom. With a little man- 
agement, thousands may be caught in a very little 
time. 

Another method which I have practised success- 
fully is this, viz. : set a long neck bottle, having a 
little honey on the bottom, under the floor of the bee- 
house, and another, perhaps on the roof When once 
inside, it is exceedingly difficult for them to make 
their escape. Drawing a piece of gauze, or making 
a wire door, on hinges, over the aperture to the hive, 
which is closed over night, is another very good 
scheme. But this must be opened very early in the 
morning, as the bees begin to forage by the earliest 
dawn. The gate most effectually keeps the moth 
from getting within, though the bees, thus confined, 
exhibit much restlessness and impatience during 
the time they are imprisoned within their own 
castle. 

My ingenious friend. Dr. Thatcher, to whom the 
agriculturist is under peculiar obligations, says that 
by placing shallow vessels, containing sweetened 
water, to a pint of which is one gill of vinegar, the 
moths are intoxicated, fill into the pit and are drown- 
ed by hundreds. These are the principal means, 
yet discovered, of subduing the moth : perhaps all 
of them, on trial, would be found valuable, where 
there was reason for apprehending much damage 
from their nocturnal visitations. During the day- 
time, they are lying secreted in crevices, but as 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 45 

soon as the evening shade comes on, they are on 
the wing, carrying, if not apprehended, death and 
destruction to the bees. 

To extract Honey from the Comb, in quantities. 
Place all the comb, bruised and broken, as it may 
be, containing very often dead bees, larvae, «fec. in 
a good sized hair seive. Let it be suspended by 
cords from the ceiling, as the most convenient mode, 
and an earthen vessel set to receive the honey as 
it gradually drips through the seive. The process 
may be hastened considerably by having it near a 
hot fire, which makes the contents of the cells much 
more fluid. When the jars are sufficiently filled, 
set them in a cool apartment. The honey grains, 
as it is termed, in a few weeks assuming the appear- 
ance of butter partially melted. Age gives it more 
character ; it hardens very considerably, so that it 
may be placed in slices on the table, having a 
rich yellowish hue. For family use, this is a 
common, very good and certain process. 

To prepare Wax, after taking out the Honey. 

In a kettle of boiling water, throw all the comb 
taken from the strainer. Continue boiling till it is 
dissolved, then strain the whole, water as well as 
wax, through a coarse linen cloth, into another 
vessel of boiling water. In this way, all impurities 
will be detected ; the wax, therefore, becomes per- 
4 



46 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

fectly pure. If suffered to cool in the second 
vessel, it will rise to the surface of the water, in a 
solid cake. To every fifteen pounds of honey, in 
cells, there is nearly half a pound of wax. 

Metliod of managing Stuck Bees in Winter. 

During the season of rest, from the first of Octo- 
ber to the first or middle of April, the quantity of 
honey consumed by such a hive as has been spoken 
of, as worth keeping, varies according to the average 
temperature of the weather, from ten to twenty 
pounds. It is better that the bees should have too 
much than too little in store. They are very 
economical in the expenditure of food, and there- 
fore there is no risk in trusting them with well 
stocked granaries.* All hives should have the 

* On Ihe "21st of March, 1831. in company with JVlr. J. S. C- 
Greene, we examined a hive of bees Uiai had, probalily, died 
for want of proper ventilation. Tliere were two thousand 
two hundred bees. A common flint lumliler, coniained one 
thousand, weighing" si.x ounces and a liaif. It was obvious ihey 
did not die of starvation, as there vvas a good supply of beauti- 
ful honey, which, together with the comb, weigiied iwenly-two 
pounds. Allowiuir one half pound of cell comb, for holding 
every fifteen pounds of honey, the qiiantily was easily ascer- 
tained. Taking this in connection with that which was taken 
from them in the autumn, and, at the sante time, admitting 
that five hundred bees were lost by high autumnal winds, storms, 
and early frosts, the whole colony consisted, originally, of ihirty- 
iwo hundred bees, which, in eight weeks, or thereabouts, 
collected the wax, constructed the cells, and made over one 
hundred pounds of honey, in a garden on Pemberlon's Hill, 
nearly in the centre of Boston ! It should be remarked, that a 
bee answering tlie general description of ili<! queen, as it relates 
to externa! appearance, was foui;d in a cluster of dead ones. 
Not a drone was discovered, nor a young bee in any stage of 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 47 

weight marked on the back, which will enable the 
manager to judge pretty accurately of the quantity 
of honey and wax on hand. Taking five pounds as 
the standard weight of the bees, and a half pound 
of wax to every fifteen pounds of honey, almost the 
exact quantity of honey can thus be ascertained. 
My rule has invariably been, to let the bees remain 
in winter, wherever they have stood through- tlie 
summer; all attempts on my part, to prepare them 
for the inclemencies of approaching cold, were in- 
variably anticipated, and seasonably attended to by 
the bees themselves. 

Feeling peculiar commiseration for a sAvarm, two 
years since, whose bleak locality, I feared, would 
be the certain destruction of the hive before 
spring, they were placed in the lobby of an adjacent 
building, for comfort. In the month of March, dis- 
covering that thousands of them were dead, on the 
floor, and that the bees were sickly, they were 
carried back to their old stand in the open air, at 
the summit of a high, exposed hill, where they were 
perfectly restored to health, in about twelve days. 
If they are housed in winter, the torpidity which 
seems to be constitutionally requisite, both for the 
future health of the bee, and the saving of its honey 
is obviated, and indisposition, in consequence of 
constantly feeding, without exercise, is the invaria- 
ble result. The colder they are, the better : I am 
fully persuaded that bees, in their hive, cannot be 



48 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

frozen to death. Animation may be suspended 
several weeks or months, with impunity, — vitality 
may merely appertain to organized matter ; but, 
when the genial Avarmth of spring comes gently on, 
the little spark of life is again rekindled into vigor- 
ous flame. 

By looking under the hive occasionally, it can 
be ascertained whether there is danger of famine ; 
if so, spread fluid honey on old pieces of comb, 
which must be laid on blocks, within the hive, in 
order to expose all sides for the bees to feed. Loaf 
sugar syrup is a very tolerable substitute for honey, 
when that cannot be easily procured. When old 
honey is used for feed, which is chrystalized, it 
should be diluted with half its weight of water, 
otherwise the bees cannot digest it. I once fed my 
bees with half a pint of sugar water, which they 
not needing for immediate use, packed carefully 
away in empty cells, against a time of need. To 
my surprise, in about five days, on a pleasant April 
morning, the bees were actively employed bringing 
out white grains of something, resembling sand. 
My curiosity being excited, I tasted of it, when lo ! 
I recognized the sugar. The fact was, the water 
in which the sugar was held in solution, evaporated, 
by the heat of the hive,* or else the bees drank it 



* Illustrative of the fact, that the quantity of heat generated 
in the hive by the bees themselves is entirely beyond what any 
one, unacquainted with their history, wouldf expect, I introduce 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 49 

up — and the sugar chrystalized at the bottom. They 
discovering this metamorphosis, finding that the 

the aic()inpai)yiii4; exlracl Iroin ilial valuable liebclomadal, llie 
New England Farmer. 1 regrel lliat Mr. Beard lias not given 
us his liieory upon the subject, as 1 liave none of my own. 

" I had on Ihe 16ih day ol' last January a swarm of bees 
which ineiled down, so ihai one Ihnd of ilie honey ran oul, and 
half ihe swarm was drowned iti liie honey. 'J'lie weiglil was 
foriy-eighl pounds, honey and bees, and llie hive was iliirieen 
indies l)y eighteen. 'J'he iherniomeler slood about ten degrees 
below freezing, and the hive was out in the open air, exposed 
to the weadier. The entrance to llie hive was lightly fastened 
up to keep the bees from coming oul on the snow. They had 
been fastened up one day, v\ lien the event happened. It was 
first discovered \}y the honey's running out and lalliiig on another 
hive, which stood undeniealli ; and on opening the hive the 
steam ascended (rom it, as it would from a boiling pot 3 and 
the bees made all possible speed to leave the hive, but were so 
immersed in the honey that ihey could not fly, and a great 
many were lost on (he snow. 1 soon slopped iliein up, and 
bored some holes in ihe boliom of the hive to give them air, and 
let the honey run otf. But there had so man} bees tallen down, 
that they clogged up the lioles. 1 then took up the bottom 
board, and put the bees into a box six inches deep, so as to see 
what slate they were in. A good deal of the dry comb m the 
hive lell down, and it iias been so melled that it is now m many 
crooked sliapes. I have since carried tlie hive to iirigliton, and 
while removing it (which happened to be during a snow storm) 
I noticed that as fast as die snow lell, it melted on the hive by 
the iieat of tlie bees within, allhou^li it was a very cold day, 

I have some other liot naiured btes, so hot as to melt the snow 
away from the hive two inches, biil not so hot as to melt down 
the honey-comb, 1 wish to pui^lish this, lor to me tiie above 
occurrence is unaccountable. It is a thing which has never 
happened to a swarm ol' bees in my possession before, 

1 should consider it a great lavor d some one woulu, through 
the medium ol your paper, stale the |trobabie causes of ttiis 
great heat, proceeding Irom bees, and how they have the power 
of creating it, so as to melt their coin!), at any lime they please. 
I have myself conjectured the cause, but should like that some 
one older ihan 1 am in the management of bees, should inlbrm 
the public the cause of this new phenomenon, 

Ebkmezer Beard." 

4* 



50 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

sugar was of no service to them, mustered their 
forces to carry it out of the hive at once. For the 
sake of witnessing their discretion and ingenuity, 
I made several repetitions of this interesting exhi- 
bition. 

To Bleach Yellow Wax. 

To make bees' wax perfectly white, whilst it is 
liquid on the surface of boiling water, dip in sheets 
of paper, tin, or shavings, which will come out, 
coated with a thin sheet of wax. These are to be 
exposed to the direct rays of the sun, day after day, 
on the roof of a house, or in broad earthern pans, 
till it becomes of a pearly whiteness. When this 
part of the process is finished, throw all the articles 
loaded with wax into a kettle of boiling water again, 
to disengage it, and afterwards run it into moulds 
for use. 

Method of relieving the Pain, on being Stung. 

Instantaneously, after being pricked by the sting, 
the pain in the part where the puncture is made, is 
almost intolerable. First, search for the sting, 
usually left in the wound, and carefully draw it out. 
A pellet of moistened clay, laid over the spot, gives 
relief as soon as almost anything that can be pre- 
scribed. Cold water, plentifully supplied by a 
sponge, mitigates the intensity of suffering con- 
siderably. But above all, an ammoniacal prepara- 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 51 

tion, known in families by the name of spirits of 
hartshorn, is superior to all other remedies. A vial 
of this, therefore, should always be kept by those 
who, from their exposure, are liable to be frequently 
stung-. Washing the part a few moments, over- 
comes both the pain and the inflammation. 

MetJiod of supplying Bees with Fresh Water. 

If there is no place in the yard in which water 
remains exposed, as for instance, in a trough or a 
shallow tub, some provision of the kind must be 
made. Bees, in the building season, require fresh 
water very frequently ; for this purpose, the archi- 
tects will sometimes fly to the accustomed watering 
place, and then return and resume their masonry 
again. The bee softens the wax with its own 
saliva, and finally varnishes over the surface of all 
the cells, inside and out, with this secretion, laid on 
by its long brush-like tongue : this explains the 
necessity for drinking so often, to sustain the secre- 
tions necessary to the completion of its habitation. 
If a watering place is not expressly provided, so 
that the bees can drink without endangering their 
safety, wherever they are placed, they immediately 
seek one, which they rarely forsake for a new one, 
even if it is within a few feet of the hive. Bees 
like to stand on pebbles when drinking ; it would 
therefore be well to drop a handful into the trough 



52 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

from which it is intended they shall habitually obtain 
their drink. 

I have made many experiments to induce bees to 
drink at the mouth of the hive, from a shallow table 
plate, but they were never disposed to comply with 
my wishes, choosing to fly over twenty rods to a 
particular drain, under a tree, which conveyed away 
the waste water of a pump. 

Method of Marking 'particular Bces^ in and out 

of the hive, in order to ascertain their 

specif c employments. 

Place some honey in a saucer, having- sticks or 
straws laid over it for the bees to stand on, in front 
of the hive : they very soon light on the sticks, and 
commence taking up die honey with their trunks. 
Whilst they are quietly engaged, with a delicate 
camel's hair pencil, mark the bee on the chest, 
between the wings, with any water color which 
may be most easily seen. Different individuals 
require diSerent colors, according to their supposed 
employments ; otherwise, if all were of one tint, 
they could not be designated in the hive. These 
remarks, of course, have exclusive reference to 
glass hives. 

Through the ventilator, or vial-like orifice of the 
globe, before described, insert the pencil, at the end 
of a long, slender rod, to the spot where an^ par- 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 53 

ticular bee is engaged, and mark it as in the other 
case. By this plan, the observer may recognize the 
bees, when or wherever they may be subsequently 
found. I believe this to be the only successful 
mode of studying their character, habits, and em- 
ployments. The sentinels at the door can be mark- 
ed in the same manner, and afterward noticed in 
some other course of industry, showing most clearly 
and convincingly, that strict order is maintained in 
the hive by systematic energy and the division of 
labor. 

Whilst speaking of marking, it recalls to mind 
the very many happy hours I have passed over a 
glass hive, in watching the progress of various 
operations which were disclosed to me in the ordi- 
nary course of their never-tiring industry. I am 
free to confess that an ample return, in this way, 
has been made for all my toil, vexations, and expen- 
ditures ; — and I can conscientiously recommend the 
raising of bees, to a thinking man, as one of the 
most certain, unexceptionable, and genuine sources 
of enjoyment. We are at this moment almost as 
ignorant of the true generative process of bees, as 
in the age of Pliny : a vast, unexplored field is pre- 
sented to the philosophic entomologist, where he 
can yet discover, if he cannot always explain. He 
can add new facts to those already accumulated, 
and he can moreover assist in the expurgation of 
that host of falsehood which has been palmed upon 



54 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

the world as truth ; as it regards, for example, the 
flight of queens, for impregnation ; the alteration of 
workers into prolific layers of eggs, or the despotism 
and unexampled majesty of a puny insect. The 
more I witness of their economy, with my own eyes, 
the more thoroughly I am convinced of the imposi- 
tion that has been a long while practised on 
reading philosophers, by those marvellous bee- 
mongers who have so much astonished the age by 
their discoveries. 

Anatomy of the Honey Bee. 

Like larger animals, they are anatomically con- 
sidered under the three following divisions, viz. : 
head, trunk, and extremities. 

The internal structure of the head cannot be in- 
vestigated, but that it is exceedingly complicated, 
there can be no doubt. In the trunk, the second 
portion of the body, being the mass between the 
head and abdomen, is lodged the minute organs of 
motion belonging to the legs, wings, and parts of the 
secretory and vital apparatus. Within the abdomen, 
constituted of six hoops, sliding within each other, 
like the tubes of an object glass, are contained the 
procreative organs ; the respiratory tubes ; the in- 
testines ; and the beautiful but complicated ma- 
chinery of the sting. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 55 

Parts which can he distinctly seen under the 
Microscope. 

A bee's proboscis is probably constructed as won- 
derfully as an elephant's trunk, as it has as much 
flexibility and freedom of motion. It is made up of 
a centre tongue and four outside strips surround- 
ing it in the form of a case, having a joint in the 
middle like the socket joint of a surveyor's compass, 
allowing it to be carried in any direction. This 
appears like a brush, when the bees are using it in 
finishing the cells. The upper jaws, termed man- 
dibles, armed with fine teeth, open horizontally ; 
they are really powerful, considering the size of the 
insect's body, and are constantly used, as pincers, 
a vice, or as a rasp, as circumstances may require, 
in all their minute architectural labors. No appen- 
dage of an insect's body appears of so much impor- 
tance as their antennae, long hair-like appendages 
of the head, made up of a chain of jointed tubes, 
having free motion in all directions. Drones, (the 
males,) have thirteen, and the females only twelve 
of these articulations. By these, the bee probably 
transmits the vibration of bodies to its own, — they 
being in fact, the organs of hearing. Feelers, 
termed palpi, four in number, from the jaws, also 
subserve some mysterious function, which is not 
yet fully understood. 

Wings of bees are beautifully organized, being a 



56 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

delicate tissue, stretched over a frame work of 
tubes, through which the air circulates freely, by 
reason of their communication with the spiracula, 
or breathing- holes, on the sides of the insect. Un- 
der the microscope, the wing is an interesting ob- 
ject. The muscles by which they are so rapidly 
moved, cannot be seen ; their existence, however, 
cannot be questioned. It is owing entirely to the 
peculiar developement of the respiratory organs, 
that insects exhibit such prodigious strength, and 
are able, also, to sustain, for a long time on the 
wing, a weight greater than themselves. 

Bees have six legs, articulated much like the 
elbows of a man ; in the hind legs, that portion 
which is equivalent to the thigh, is hollowed or 
scooped out into the shape of a trough, termed bas- 
ket, — the margin of which is bordered by long, stiff 
bristles, acting like springs, to press in and down- 
ward, whatever is placed there. In these the bee 
packs its little balls of farina, which are to be car- 
ried home to the hive. This is done by the jaws 
and middle pair of legs, used as monkeys use their 
hands. Two hooks, on each foot, with points in 
opposite directions, can be readily seen with an 
ordinary magnifier. By these they suspend them- 
selves, or drag their enemies out of the hive, as the 
case may be. When walking on glass or other 
polished surface, or, directly overhead, the central 
part of the foot either acts like an air pump, or by 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 57 

the adhesiveness of their saliva, by which the feet 
appear to be frequently moistened. That appendix 
to the hooks, spoken of by some entomologists, as 
coiled up, only to be used on certain inclined sur- 
faces, I have never seen. 

Although the sting, on general examination, ap- 
pears like a fine, slender pointed needle, there is 
a horny scabbard, containing two long, sharp, sliding 
stings, side by side, bearded on their edges, which 
are thrust beyond the sheath. A sack of poison is 
placed near the tip of the tail, having a duct leading 
to the pipe containing the stings. As these are 
withdrawn, in the act of stinging, the poison is in- 
jected into the puncture. When the individual 
stung, permits the bee to withdraw the sting 
leisurely, it does it so carefully as to tear the barbs, 
like fish hooks, through the flesh, without damage ; 
but, ordinarily, both the bee and the individual are 
so much excited, that in the hurry of withdrawal, 
the barbs hold so tenaciously, that in the muscular 
effort to draw it instantly, it is torn from the body : 
the death of the bee necessarily follows. 

Eyes. Nothing of the internal structure of the 
eye can be examined by the common microscope, 
but the perforated cover, or eyelid, which protects 
that minute organ, strongly resembling the top of a 
pepper box, can be examined. The eyes are im- 
movable in the bee ; though quite protuberant, 
there is only one lens, having, however, as many 
5 



58 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

polished faces, as there are windows to correspond 
in the eyelid. Their eyes, therefore, receive light 
from every point, on some one of the many faces, 
without obliging the creature to change its posi- 
tion : — in effect, one lens, standing as it does be- 
tween the light and the optic nerve, is equivalent 
to having a distinct lens to each orifice. Dr. Se- 
van, the latest writer of merit, in England, on the 
bee, gives it as his opinion that its eyesight is less 
perfect than its other senses. He quotes Wiedman, 
who remarked that he had seen bees travel up and 
down in front of the hive, on their return from the 
field, in search of the door, and be obliged to fly off 
at a little distance, making another tack, and thus 
hit the portal. My own observations corroborate 
this statement, as it respects the use of their eyes, 
at least, in a bright light. Their eyes are undoubt- 
edly constructed for seeing distinctly and minutely, 
exactly before the jaws, so that the masonry of the 
cells is done by a critical eye ; and, furthermore, 
they probably see better in the dark than in the 
light ; and hence they close all avenues to light in 
the hive. 

At the root of the tongue, is an opening for the 
passage of collected honey, from the mouth into the 
honey-bag, neatly closed by a valve, something like 
the epiglottis in the throat of a man. The power of 
regurgitation is a very remarkable faculty ; as the 
honey is brought up through the gullet, it is mixed 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 59 

with secretions from the bee's own system, poured 
out into the common canal as it moves along. Pro- 
bably both the quality and quantity is effected by 
this process. 

Huish, in an extract from M. Ducovedic, who 
maintains that bees void their excrements by the 
mouth, makes very sensible observations upon the 
structure of the abdomen of the bee. How any 
man in his senses, and particularly an anatomist, 
could conjure up such a theory, that any insect was 
destitute of an intestinal tube, is really wonderful. 
Such an extraordinary departure from the common 
laws of nature, in the organization of animated be- 
ings, were the Frenchman's declaration true, would 
certainly lead one to believe the second part of his 
assertion, tbat whatever goes into the mouth, comes 
back the same way, conveHed into honey ! Gentle- 
men devoted to entomological studies, will be able 
to inspect, under a solar microscope, even the con- 
volutions and termination of the intestine. 

Physiology of the Bee. 

From Bevan's excellent treatise, published in 
1827, I have selected the following interesting 
physiological memoranda. 

The Poison of Bees. 

" The poison of bees, as also that of wasps, is a 
transparent fluid : applied to the tongue, it imparts 



60 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

a sweet taste, which is succeeded by a hot acrid 
one. It gives a slight, red tinge, as has been already 
hinted, to litmus paper, and hence the Abbe Fon- 
tana has concluded that an acid enters into its com- 
position ; but in a very small proportion. The 
venom is so extremely active, that he conjectures a 
grain in weight, would kill a pigeon in a few seconds. 
It is this fluid which causes inflammation consequent 
upon being stung. A puncture from a needle that 
was charged with it, would produce precisely the 
same effects. These effects are very different in 
different persons ; for whilst a single sting will pro- 
duce alarming symptons in one individual, another 
may receive numerous punctures without sustain- 
ing pain or inflammation in any considerable degree ; 
sometimes without suffering either. The activity 
of the venom varies according to the season of the 
year ; a sting received in winter, produces much 
less inconvenience, than one inflicted in summer ; 
the pain and inflammation are neither so intense 
nor of such long continuance. This may arise 
from there being a more copious secretion of venom 
in summer than in winter ; for during the former 
season, if a bee inflict several wounds with its sting, 
the pain and inflammation become progressively 
less at each consecutive puncture: after three or 
four punctures, it is rendered incapable of producing 
more inconvenience than the point of a sharp needle. 
If a bee be provoked to dart its sting against glassj 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 61 

so as to eject its venom upon it, and the glass thus 
charged be placed upon a double microscope, oblong 
pointed crystals will become visible ; these may at 
first be seen floating in the venom, and gradually 
shooting into crystals as the fluid part evaporates." 

The Anger of Bees. 
"I have already treated of the disposition of bees 
to use their stings, when irritated, either by direct 
interference with them, or by the approach of per- 
sons to whom they have an antipathy.'^ Virgil has, 
in strong terms, noticed their irascibility ; — ' When 
once provoked,' says he, ' they set no bounds to 
their anger, but 

Deem life itself to vengeance well resign'd, 

Die on the wound, and leave their stings behind.' 

" Fatal consequences occurring from their wounds, 
are not often heard of, though such, I believe, have 
occasionally happened.f Messrs. Kirby and Spence 
relate an instance of a violent fever being produced 

* By antijtallnj, as expressed by Bevan, it simply means, as 
before remarked in tins essKy, that the perspirable matter of 
some individuals is so oflensive to bees, thai they sting them to 
drive away the imisance. 

t A man in the lownol Hopkinton, Massachusetts, a few years 
since, was stung on the wing of the nose by a single bee, which 
produced violent spasms and dealli, in a lisw tiours. The sting 
probably puiiciured a twig of the facial nerve. I was slung on 
the nose, whilst leedmg my bees, which at once produced an 
almost insupportable pain in the shoulder. A fine cutaneous 
nerve, in this case, was also pricked. Scarcely a year passes 
that accounts are not published of the death of horses or catde, 
by the overpowering slings of bees. 

5* 



62 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

by the injury they inflicted, and in which the per- 
son's recovery was for some time doubtful. Mungo 
Park also mentions, in his Travels, an instance of 
severe annoyance from them, and states that he 
lost several asses in Africa, owing to their being 
attacked by bees. Mr. Talbot, in his Five Years' 
Residence in the Canadas, states, that during the 
summer of 1820, the Rev. Ralph Leeming, having 
sent a fine horse to grass at a neighboring farmer's, 
who kept about twenty stocks of bees, the animal 
got upon the lawn where the hives were placed, 
and by accident overturned one of them, the bees 
of which, attacked him with great virulence. The 
horse, rearing and kicking from agony, overthrew 
another hive. Having thus doubled the number of 
his assailants, his sufferings brought him to the 
ground, and in less than five minutes from the com- 
mencement of the attack, the poor animal was lit- 
erally stung to deatli. 

"The anger is not confined to man and other 
large animals ; it is sometimes vented upon their 
own kind, not only in single combat, but in conflicts 
of organized masses. Cases of the former kind, 
every observer must have noticed ; and of the lat- 
ter, several cases have been related by Reaumur, 
Thorley, Knight and others. The engagements 
witnessed by Thorley, lasted more than two days, 
and originated in a swarm's attempting to take pos- 
session of an already occupied hive. Remarkable 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 63 

battles of this kind have also been related by other 
writers." " Whenever the angry excitation is dif- 
fused through the whole community, a great acces- 
sion of heat is produced in the hive. Notwith- 
standing bees are occasionally animated by a most 
vindictive spirit, against what they regard as a 
public enemy, they are not found to display any 
peculiar hostility in the revenge of a private injury. 
This is a fact which has been noticed both by Mr. 
Hunter and Mr. Knight. The former observes also, 
that bees neve?- sting but in the neighborliood of 
their property, unless hurt; that they never contend 
with each other for honey, unless it be placed within 
the boundary of their own right, — but that what 
they have collected, they defend. The indispo- 
sition of bees to attack or be angry at a distance, 
has been confirmed by Mr. Knight, who says, that 
though the most irritable of animals near home, he 
has seen them suffer themselves to be patiently 
robbed of their loads by other bees, and that he has 
witnessed this in the same bee three times in suc- 
cession." 

" He says likewise, that if the wasps in a nest 
have their communication cut off from tliose that 
are abroad, the latter, on their return, will not make 
any attack ; but that if one escape from the interior, 
it evinces a very different temper, and is ready to 
sacrifice its life to avenge the injury. This Mr. 



64 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

Knight discovered when a boy, and he has no doubt 
but that if a similar proceeding were adopted to- 
wards bees, they would observe the same conduct." 

Language of Bees, 

" All creatures that live in society, seem to pos- 
sess the power of communicating intelligence to 
one another. ' Brutes,' says Mr. Knight, ' have lan- 
guage to express sentiments of love, of fear, and of 
anger ; yet they seem unable to transmit any im- 
pression they have received from external objects. 
But the language of bees is more extensive : if not 
a language of ideas, it is something very similar.' 
This faculty has been very remarkably illustrated 
by Huber, in his treatise on ants ; and the bee ex- 
hibits many strong evidences of it. Huber clearly 
shows that the communications of ants are made 
through the medium of their antennaB ; he has 
also proved very satisfactorily, that these organs 
serve the same purpose in bees. Bees receive 
some kinds of intelligence through the medium of 
certain sounds, as has been stated in another place. 
The antenntB, in addition to the uses already as- 
cribed to them, may serve to inform the bees of the 
state of the atmosphere, and enable them to discern the 
approach of a change in the iveather.^^ 

"The suddenness and rapidity of their flight 
towards the apiary, often afford a hint to the ob- 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 65 

server of their proceedings, that a storm is at hand, 
of which he received no intimations from any other 
quarter. ' That bees,' says Dr. Evans, 'can foresee 
bad weather, is a fact beyond denial ; though we 
know not through the medium of what sense that 
faculty is exerted. We are often surprised to find, 
even with a promising appearance of the sky, their 
labors suddenly cease, and that not a bee stirs out; 
or, on the contrary, that those which are abroad, 
hurry home in such crowds, that the door is too 
small for their admission. But on strictly examin- 
ing the heavens, we discern some small and distant 
clouds, which, insensibly collecting, soon after de- 
scend in rain.' The doctor likewise says, that an 
observant friend of his, foretells with confidence 
that rain will fall in the course of a few hours, when 
he finds, on a clear summer's morning, that his gar- 
den is wholly deserted by his neighbor's bees. In 
this, he enjoys an advantage over their real owner, 
the flowers near the apiary being crowded, as usual, 
by these wary foragers. ' If,' says Mr. Kirby, ' they 
wander far from home, and do not return till late 
in the evening, it is a prognostic to be depended 
upon, that the following day will be fine ; but if 
they remain near their habitations, and are seen 
frequently going and returning, — although no indi- 
cations of wet should be discernible, clouds will 
soon rise and rain come on." 
" Ants are also observed to be excellently gifted 



QQ CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

in this respect : though they daily bring out their 
larvag to the sun, they are never overtaken by sud- 
den showers." 

" It is the opinion of Mr. Knight, that bees are 
not only capable of communicating intelligence to 
the members of their own family, but that a friendly 
intercourse sometimes takes place between neigh- 
boring colonies ; the cases which he has related 
in support of this opinion, however, can hardly be 
said to bear him out in it ; for in each of them, after 
the intercourse had continued for a few days, it 
terminated in violent hostility." " Such instances, 
though not of frequent occurrence, have been 
occasionally noticed by others." 

Sleep of Bees. 

" It is reasonable to suppose that every part of 
animated nature needs occasional intervals of re- 
pose. That this is the case with the bee, seems 
evident, from the almost motionless quietude of the 
workers, which often occurs for fifteen or twenty 
minutes together, each bee inserting its head and 
thorax into a cell, where it might be mistaken for 
dead, were it not for the dilitation of the segments 
of its abdomen. The drones, while reposing, do 
not enter the cells, but cluster in the combs, and 
sometimes remain without stirring a limb, for 
eighteen or twenty hours." 

" Huber says that he has seen twenty workers, 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 67 

even in the middle of the day, when apparently 
wearied with exertion, insert half their bodies into 
the empty cells, and remain there, as if taking a 
nap, for half an hour or longer ; at night they regu- 
larly muster, in a sleep-like silence." 

The sun flecliiiing-, through ihe murky air, 
Home to iheir hives, the vagrant bands repair, 
There in soft shimber, close their willing eyes, 
And hush'd in silence, the whole nation lies. 

Murphy's Vaniere. 

Longevity of Bees. 

" The several members of a hive have very diffe- 
rent periods of existence. The general law among 
insects is, that both male and female shall perish 
soon after sexual union ; a few days or weeks at 
furthest, according to the time, probably, that the 
female occupies in maturing and depositing her 
eggs. By retarding sexual union, the lives of some 
insects may be very much prolonged ; — even ephe- 
mera have been kept alive by this means for seven 
or eight days. Annual plants, if prevented from 
seeding, may be rendered biennial. The ancients 
were very deficient in knowledge upon this subject. 
Virgil fixes the term of a bee's existence at seven 
years, having probably copied from Aristotle ; 
though Aristotle says that bees who live to extreme 
old age, may reach to nine or ten years. Columella 
and Pliny have been supposed to regard their exist- 



68 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

ence as extending to ten years ; though the lan- 
guage of the former applies to the existence of the 
community, and not to individual bees : and pro- 
vided the hive be never changed, nor the combs 
renewed, it is not likely that any one family should 
have its existence prolonged beyond that period ; 
as the accumulation of silken pellicles with which 
the breeding cells are successively lined, would 
render them unfit for use in a very few years. In 
addition to the diminution of the cells by this suc- 
cession of silken linings, they are also diminished 
further by the excrement of the larvae, which is 
never cleaned out, but confined behind each liningr : 
both together, therefore, soon render the cell unfit 
for use as brood cells. Mr. Hunter found three of 
these layers deposited in a single season, and 
counted upwards in the cells of the old comb ; 
which, upon an average of three a year, would cor- 
respond with the period fixed by the ancients ; 
though this observation by no means proves that 
the hive upon which it was made, or any other, 
might not have had a much more protracted existence. 
Air. Espinasse tells us that he once took a hive 
■which had stood fourteen years, having found it had 
become weak: it had, nevertheless, sent off a swarm 
the year previous. There is an instance or two on 
record, of one family having continued in the same 
hive for thirty years. 

" One of these is mentioned by Reaumur, another 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 69 

by Mouffet. Thorley speaks of a colony having 
occupied the same domicil for one hundred and 
ten years. The spot chosen was under the leads of 
the study of Ludovicus Vives, in Oxford : the ori- 
ginal swarm settled there in 1520, and kept possession 
till 1630. Query : — may not the bees, when the 
combs become very old, and the cells much dimin- 
ished in size, remove them and construct fresh ones ? 
To those who may wish for their own satisfaction 
to examine the linings of a brood cell, I would ob- 
serve, that Mr. Hunter's mode of proceeding was, 
to soak the cell in water, till the linings were 
swelled, when he had no difficulty in separating 
and counting them : he found them separate most 
readily at the bottom, on account of the inclosed 
excrement. 

" To common observers it might appear, that the 
lives of the bees were coeval with the foundation 
of the colony, presuming upon all the young bees 
leaving the parent stock in swarms. But I have 
already stated that all swarms consist of a mixture 
of young and old bees ; the difference between 
them is very distinguishable ; those of the present 
year being brown, plump, and clothed with light 
hairs, whilst the old ones have red hairs, notched 
and ragged wings, and are paler and more shrunk 
in their bodies. The cases which I have related, 
and others of a similar kind, have led to the errone- 
ous opinion that bees are a long lived race. But 
6 



70 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

this, as Dr. Evans has observed, is just as wise as 
if a stranger, contemplating a populous city, and 
personally unacquainted with its inhabitants, should, 
on paying it a second visit, many years afterwards, 
and finding it equally populous, imagine that it was 
peopled by the same individuals, not one of whom 
might then be alive. " Such strangers are we to 
the honeyed hive, vv'here, however quickly its genera- 
tions may have passed away, the same face is pre- 
sented to the beholder." 

" The race and realm from ag^c to age remain. 
And lime bul lengllieiis, with new links, tlie chain." 

" The usual term of the male's existence, is two or 
three months only : I say the usual term, for his 
life is always cut off by violence, when no peculiar 
circumstances arise to render his existence any 
longer useful. Such circumstances having arisen, 
(as has heretofore been observed,) he may be kept 
alive a much longer period, for a year at least, but 
how much longer has not as yet been ascertained. 
Messrs. Kirby and Spence, in like manner, seem to 
think it not improbable, that when the workers 
(females) become too old to be useful to the com- 
munity, they are either killed or expelled the 
society. Reaumur also throws out a hint to the 
same purpose. The length of a working bee's life 
has not yet been ascertained : but the general 
opinion is that it is short lived. Butler sa.ys that 
' the bee is but little more than a year's bird' ; and 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 71 

some think the period of their existence shorter 
still. ' The bees of the present year,' says Butler, 
' will retain their vigor and youthful appearance 
till (Gemini) about the 21st of May in the following 
year, when they begin to decline, and from (Cancer 
to Leo) June 21st to August 21st, the ground in 
front of the apiary may be seen strewed with them, 
some dead, some dying, and a few alive, but inca- 
pable of rising again, and by (Libra) 22d Septem- 
ber, scarcely an old bee will be left.'" 

In closing this small treatise, undertaken with 
the hope of inducing some interest in the commu- 
nity in favor of a more general attention to a species 
of domestic economy most strangely neglected, I 
shall make no apology for appending in this place, 
a recent correspondence between Dr. Thacher, 
Mrs. Griffith, and myself, which had its origin 
in an interrogatory note, addressed to me by the 
doctor. Some time in January last, the follow- 
ing letters were published in the New England 
Farmer, under the editorial management of Thomas 
G. Fessenden, Esq. to whom a preparatory note 
was addressed by the doctor. 

Thomas G. Fessenden, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — Among the whole tribe of insects, 
no one has, from remote antiquity, arrested the at- 
tention of naturalists and philosophical investiga- 



72 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

tors with deeper interest than the honey bee. It 
■will, nevertheless, be conceded that we are yet 
deficient in our knowledge, in many points, of their 
true character and peculiar system of economy, 
nor can our inquiries be fully satisfied, till we can 
learn to distinguish the precise line between mind 
and matter, or intelligence and unerring instinct. 
Having devoted a portion of my latter years to this 
recondite but pleasing subject, I have found a grati- 
fying resource in a correspondence with intelligent 
apiarians, distinguished for both theoretical and 
practical knowledge. 

Presuming that the following correspondence 
will prove interesting, or at least amusing to many 
of your readers, I present it for insertion in your 
very valuable vehicle of intelligence, and subscribe 
myself, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

James Thacher. 



To Dr. Thacher. 

Quarantine Ground, Port of Boston, Jiug. 3<Z, 18;W. 

Dear Sir, — By the promptitude of our friend, 
Robert Treat Paine, Esq. who is destined to be 
the American Astronomer, your note of the 28th 
July, came to hand yesterday. I am wondering 
how he could abstract himself long enough from 
the society of the stars, to interest you with a his- 
tory of my apiary. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 73 

By the nature of your inquiries, I am fearful you 
suppose me much better acquainted withtiie natural 
history of the bee, than I really am, and more philo- 
sophical in my investigations, than in the sequel, I 
may deserve credit for. 

Placed, as I am, on a small island. Quarantine, 
excluded by the nature of hospital duties from all 
appreciable society, I have actually been obliged to 
seek rational enjoyment and happiness, in the 
contemplation of the structure and habits of every 
insect and creeping thing that happens to make 
its appearance : the moment my interest was excit- 
ed, I found that it would never do to depend on 
such precarious supplies. Believing there was 
much more to be known of the bee than has been 
discovered ; and, withal, hoping for a supply of 
subjects, I purchased a hive, in Dorchester, in the 
spring of 1827, at the price of eight dollars. The 
hive was a pine box, about nine inches deep and 
fourteen or fifteen inches square. Through the top 
of this box, was an aperture, perhaps two inches 
in diameter, over which a second box, precisely 
like the first, only smaller by several inches, was 
placed. The servant who went for them said that 
the lower box, with its contents, weighed forty 
pounds, — and, therefore, was pronounced by the 
seller, an excellent hive. In truth I suspect it was 
a small kingdom, thinly inhabited, suffering from 
the evils of an exhausted treasury. 
6* 



74 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

Perhaps you may grow weary of this detailed 
history of one hive ; but in giving you the whole 
matter at once, there will be no danger of being 
surfeited by a future repetition of the same story. 
After being placed on the head of a barrel, in 
the course of two days they commenced opera- 
tions by searching all the miserable little flowers 
that had appeared. It was so apparent that they 
could not procure food enough, that a piece of old 
comb was filled with honey, on both sides, and 
laid in the lower box, between their empty combs 
and the floor. The attention of the island keeper, 
who was in the habit of frequently looking at 
them, by raising the box, was soon excited by ob- 
serving that the bees had raised the horizontal bit 
of comb, to an inclined plane, by building a col- 
lumn of wax under one end of it, so that they were 
enabled with ease, to get at the honey, which, by 
the way, was old and adhesive, in all the cells on 
the under side. A larger piece of old comb, charg- 
ed, with reference to their mechanical skill in rais- 
ing a great weight, to such a comparative height, 
was now placed inside, and elevated on a col- 
lumn, as in the first instance, before we were aware 
of their readiness to commence the undertaking. 
Whether they took portions of their own empty 
comb, or pared the foreign piece, to construct the 
prop, we were not critical to determine. Flowers 
were now beginning to appear in the garden, where 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 75 

the hive was conveyed one evening;, to a temporary 
house, about thirty rods from their first locality? 
on the island. By accident it was discovered, that, 
instead of returning to the hive, after the labors of 
the ensuing day, they were clustering together, 
towards nightfall, on a tuft of grass, nearly on the 
spot where the barrel stood. We roused them, re- 
peatedly, vainly hoping they would go to the hive, 
but the effort was unavailing, as they would join 
the nucleus in a very few minutes. On viewing the 
hive, there appeared to be a respectable number 
there ; — the guard were on their posts, at the en- 
trance ; — and on the whole, the usual order and 
discipline appeared uninterrupted. Where was the 
queen at this crisis ? Was she at the hive, or on 
the grass : — or had a royal princess escaped from 
confinement, and were a part of the subjects fol- 
lowing her destiny ? Fearing a total loss of those 
on the grass, and soon too, as a heavy mist was 
falling, the island keeper took a large earthen ves- 
sel from the hospital, and waiting till they were 
comparatively quiet, took them up by handfuls into 
the pot, and poured them into their domicil. He 
was stung in only one place, by pressing one be- 
twixt his arm and sleeve. No extraordinary com- 
motion resulted from carrying back the fugitives, 
nor was there any subsequent excitement or turmoil, 
within or without, that was extraordinary. 
Several times, a heavy piece of comb, charged 



76 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

with honey, was laid over the hole, which commu- 
nicated with the upper box, and as readily moved 
or raised, that it might be searched, as when 
placed entirely within their habitation. 

On the 15th of June, I placed over the aper- 
ture, a glass hive, shaped much like an inflated 
bladder, capable of holding nearly three pecks of 
grain. It Avas blown of pure flint glass, very clear 
and thick. Indeed, it resembles a balloon, more 
than anything else. Near the top, is a ventilator, 
like the mouth of a phial, in which a cork is some- 
times kept. Suspended from the centre, is an ash 
rod, three quarters of an inch square, reaching 
within six inches of the hole, through which the 
bees pass from the old box. On this, are three 
cross bars, reaching laterally, within two inches 
of the glass walls. The globe is not set flat on the 
top of the old hive : on the contrary, it stands 
on several little blocks, half an inch high, so that 
the bees can pass and repass freely, under the 
edge of the glass, in various directions, towards 
the Avails of the wooden, tight, iron-bound case, 
which encloses the glass. In the sides of the 
latter, are doors, through which, at leisure, I can 
inspect the bees, at all their working points. Stand- 
ing Avithin a little building, in one corner of the 
door-yard, which, from the circumstance of having 
a dome, an arched door-Avay, and a few pillars, 
is denominated the temple of industry^ 1 have made 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 77 

such observations, from time to time, as are now 
presented you. 

1. Of the Industry of the Bee. — ' Many hands,' 
says the proverb, ' make light work :' this is true in 
relation to a hive of bees. When my hive, in 1827, 
had about three thousand, — very little progress was 
made ; some old comb was repaired, but a very little 
constructed. They were constantly endeavoring 
to rear the young — feeding them with all the honey 
they could procure. Having been presented with 
some Havana honey, of bad quality, they were fed 
with it plentifully. Such a seasonable supply 
enabled them to rear a supply of laborers. In the 
spring of 1828, although almost destitute of honey, 
they commenced a small mound of comb, at the 
side of the hole, on the upper side, within the glass 
bell. The question at once arose in my mind, 
whether there were a class of bees, that were archi- 
tects exclusively ; as it was certain, the season 
before, no building was done ; but since the addition 
of new members to the sovereignty, new comb was 
being constructed, though there was no necessity 
for it, as there were, to all appearance, empty cells 
enough to store all the honey that might be col- 
lected during the season. I marked those bees, on 
the head, with a brush, dipped in whitewash, as 
they were sticking the little pellets of wax together, 
on the borders of the new comb. By long, and 
sometimes tiresome observation, I found those ma- 



78 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

sons kept on the foundation, day after day, and that 
they labored only a very small part of the time. It 
would seem that they were ^omotinjes waiting for 
mortar; and ut others, when it was deposited by 
carriers, close to where it was required, they were 
in no hurry to use it. Apparently examining the 
work, two bees would accidentally meet, and were 
they not interrupted by any order from a superior, 
would dress each other's limbs, wings, feelers, &c., 
precisely as cattle in a field will lick each other's 
head and ears. This is very common : I have seen 
them dress each other in this way, a whole hour ; 
and I have also seen them quit, instantly, as though 
commanded, and resume their work. The honey 
gatherers seem at times to skulk about the hive, as 
though they were unwilling to go abroad ; some- 
times, a numerous body of them, Avandering over 
the cells, are suddenly driven out, and the front of 
the hive presents a very sudden activity. I am in- 
duced to suppose they want urging, and perhaps 
punishment, at times, to complete their task. How 
is it, that we see an apparently healthy bee dragged 
out of the hive, dead, occasionally ? Are they put 
to death for refractory conduct ? 

2. Government. — NotAvithstanding an extraordi- 
nary attention to the construction of the glass, 
which magnifies the bees considerahly where it is 
most convex, I never have discovered the least 
clue to the mode of government. A peculiar noise 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 79 

like the sino^ing of a cricket, is sometimes heard, 
deep in the centre of the hive, but there are no 
indications of particular attention, on the part of 
the bee. Ts this made by the Queen ? On the 
whole, I have concluded that it must be by a young- 
one, freeing itself from the cell, and trying its wings. 
That there is a peculiar discipline, is beyond 
all manner of doubt. Certain it is, those that 
gather honey, after they have deposited, are not 
allowed to taste it. On a rainy day, Avhen all were 
at home, I often observed them travelling over the 
pots, looking at one, feeling the depth of another, 
&c., but the moment they thrust their proboscis 
towards the honey, as though they were about 
tasting it, they are oftener driven away, by an in- 
visible something, before succeeding, than other- 
wise. There are watchmen everywhere, and this 
I infer from marking them : — finding them a long 
time near one spot, unengaged, and occasionally 
sipping the honey fearlessly, as they go their rounds. 
In the warm season, there has always been a sentry, 
but more commonly four, at the entrance of the 
hive. Their heads are inward, while their wings, 
in the most rapid motion, seem to imply that those 
inside know they are securely guarded, as long as the 
humming continues. When they have been forced 
from their position, many make their appearance ; 
and I have seen them run over the whole front, as 
though anxious to ascertain the difficulty. As the 



so CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

cold weather approaches, the guard disappears, as 
insects and other enemies, attracted by the odor 
of the lioney, are no longer feared. I think the 
government generally, and certainly all special 
commands, are first made and propagated by the 
appropriate officers, by striking the horny tip of 
the tail on the hive or comb — so that a tremor, 
differently modified, gives a general as well as 
instantaneous information, which every bee not 
only perfectly understands, but quietly obeys. 

3. Contrivance, — A very large spider got within 
the glass bell, just as the mound had been com- 
menced. The bees left their work to pursue the 
common enemy, but did not overtake him, as he 
succeeded in climbing up the glass much better 
than they. Having made, en masse, a thousand at- 
tempts, but falling back before reaching the in- 
truder, they turned their attention to raising a pil- 
lar by Avhich they might reach him. In two days 
the column, of small diameter, was six inches high, 
so that they could step to the bar, before mentioned, 
suspended from the centre. Mounting this in 
astonishing numbers, he was forced to take to 
the glass again. Being within two inches, though 
loosing their foot-hold and falling to the bottom, 
constantly, their progress was such as to alarm 
the spider exceedingly. I watched the approaching 
conflict with intense interest ; when lo ! the spider 
eased himself down on a cord, of his own manufac- 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 81 

tuiing, just as the bees were on the point of seizing 
him. Thus, securely suspended midway, betwixt 
the central pillar and tlie side of the glass, on a 
single thread, perhaps a foot in length, I was 
obliged to leave him. On the following day, the 
spider still kept at the end of the rope, though the 
bees were trying by a variety of schemes to get at 
him. I wondered they did not fly at him, as there 
was room enough to use their wings. To my re- 
gret, in the course of that day, the spider Avas mis- 
sing, and probably despatched in torture. 

Turning an arch of wax like an oven over an 
enemy, and removing the offender, whenever dead, 
is resorted to occasionally. 

4. Disgorging Honey. — It is generally admitted, 
I believe, that the bee swallows the honey, and 
that it is disgorged into the pot, by some kind of 
effort. Probably by being mixed with the pecu- 
liar secretion of the organ, the quality, if not the 
quantity of the honey is changed. In fact, this 
must be the case, as direct experiment shows, 
by feeding a hive on West India honey. A single 
bee, might carry from the mouth to the interior 
two or three teaspoonfuls in a day. Three large 
coffee saucers have been repeatedly conveyed into 
the hive in six hours. This very day, (August 3,) 
by way of ascertaining a point, a tumbler of honey 
spread on a plate, was taken in two hours by only a 
small part of the whole swarm. 
7 



82 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

The contrivance by which the process of dis- 
gorging is eifected is so simple, and withal so ad- 
mirable, that it must interc st the students of nature. 
Independent of muscular action, a complete collapse 
of the sack, takes place — by a pressure, beginning 
at the fundus, and gradually propagated towards 
the Eesophagus or swallow : this is accomplished 
by a series of air bags, of irregular shapes, surround- 
ing the reservoir. When the bee desires to deposit 
the honey, by elevating the wings, and commencing 
a vermicular motion, that is, a to and fro working 
of the rings of the body, the air enters the spirac- 
ula, distends the air cells, and thus effectually forces 
the reservoir. I have drawings of those air bags 
on a scale of two feet, that their shape might be 
seen and their function understood. 

5. Food. — My experience leads me to suppose 
that the bee can extract honey from almost any 
flower with impunity. An abundance of stramoni- 
um grows on this island, which it Avould be a task 
to destroy, and on which they undoubtedly feed. I 
am not conscious that the quality of the honey is 
injured in the least ; all my attempts to feed them 
on buckwheat flowers have failed : perhaps the 
salt spray injures the blossoms for their use. Cat- 
nip blossoms they delight in : currant blossoms and 
the flower of a large kind of bean, called by the 
gardener, English coffee or Windsor bean, are 
sought for with avidity. From the dandelion they 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 83 

collect, at this place, the principal part of the mate- 
rial for comb. From the cedar posts, they seem to 
procure something, of material consequence. The 
sunflower probably yields a quantity of the yellow 
dust with which we see them load their thighs. 
Being rather coarse, they do not seek it, if other 
flowers abound. 

Were I a farmer, I should certainly cultivate a 
field of catnip solely for the bees, fully believing it 
gives oW in a warm summer, a good deal of sac- 
charine matter, besides imparting a delightful flavor 
to that with which it is mixed. 

6. The Qiieen. — I am in doubt what to say of 
the queen : perhaps I may have been deceived in 
supposing her before me ; and on the other hand 
she might have gone in state, without my know- 
ledge. Notwithstanding all that writers say of 
the queen, I am beginning to be skeptical ; in fact, 
I am much disposed to question the existence of 
such a ruler. My hive must have exhibited her 
were she among her subjects. Were it not abso- 
lutely rude towards those learned entomologists 
who have gained such distinction in the world, by 
unfolding the political condition of the bee hive, I 
should say the queen was an imaginary despot. I 
am unwilling at present, to communicate my theory, 
lest it should be incorrect.* 

* That a bee is found in hives, differing- in magnitude from 
other bees, though not invariably, I do not question ; but I can- 



84 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

7. 77ie Young. — From a series of examinations, 
I am led to suppose that an egg is deposited in 
every cell of honey, throughout the hive ; how or 
why it begins to increase in size, excepting it be 
by the increased temperature of the air, I will not 
pretend to say. That the temperature varies, is 
well known : in some of the coldest days in March 
and April last, the mercury would rise to summer 
heat. It is soon known, when the maggot requires 
material attention. About the last of June, such 
broad sheets of comb, having a maggot, just discer- 
nible, at the bottom, were so conspicuous, that I 
used to importune gentlemen to M-itness the process 
of feeding them. The bee extended its- proboscis 
quite deep, till, as nearly as could be ascertained, 
the brush, charged probably with its appropriate 
nourishment, touched its mouth. A slight motion, 
observable in the worm, was taken to be the evi- 
dence of its feeding. The cells, too, were kept 
most perfectly clean ; we judged they were fed 
about once in twenty-four hours. By the 25tli of 

not admit that this individual, or an}- other, possesses such ex- 
traordinary power as we have been tauj^ht by entomoiog-ists. 
Most of the testimony in favor of this bee's supreme, maternal^ 
dictatorial authority, rests on the assertion of Huber, a man 
who was perfectly Mind. The warm imagination of his wife, 
enabled her to see from time to time, just as he conceived 
things were in theory! l.nt any man readllubcr attentively, and 
he will have a wavering faith. Next to that remarkable treatise, 
his son's book on Ants, an unquestionable ^uulhad-sailor pro- 
duction, rather disposes one to suspect that this wonderful tad at 
discovery, is a family characteristic. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. S5 

July, past, they were generally full grown, and by 
degrees, emerged from their birth-place to mingle 
with the others. 

8. Drones. — I scarcely know what answer to 
give to your question relative to the drones. I 
have never witnessed a general massacre : those 
cruel executions, where two or three are forced 
from the hives at a time, and stung till they die, 
have been noticed repeatedly. How do you ex- 
plain the folloAving account ? — Just as the young 
ones had arrived to a size, that completely filled 
the cell, they were killed by hundreds. Perhaps 
a gill, large, white and plump, with folded wings, 
were drawn out on the lighting board, in one 
night, last week. TJiis morning, I discovered 
about thirty more, and perhaps a pint may have 
been dropped in the vicinity. Just as they had 
attained a growth which required the unceasing 
care of their nurses, they have been slain without 
mercy. Are these young drones ? I have fancied 
they were. 

9. The Moth. — About two hours before your 
letter was brought, while examining the mouth of 
the hive, a bee moth lighted on the edge of a 
plate, where the bees had been feeding. It was 
chased one side repeatedly, but not taking the hint, 
a bee finally seized it by the head and fell with it 
to the ground. It was stung repeatedly ; but 
when the bee left it, though alive, it appeared 



86 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

badly injured. A little servant girl standing by, 
wondering, I suppose, how the conflict could in- 
terest me, killed the moth with a stone. An 
empty long neck bottle, with a little honey at the 
bottom, placed close to the hive, at night, when the 
bees are within door, is a capital trap. Though 
bottles full may be so taken, their number seems 
undiminished. I am inclined to suspect the odor 
of the honey collects them, and that they cannot 
injure the bee in any other way than by stealing 
his goods, or occasionally dropping an egg in a 
honey cell. Uncommonly large worms are some 
times dragged out, dead, — which we have supposed 
to be the moth, killed as soon as its true character 
is developed. 

My hive is now very large, and perfectly full, 
having never swarmed — whenever they exhibit indi- 
cations of it, I propose to insert another box, to give 
them room. In this way, I hope to have a formidable 
hive. It has been thought that it now contains up- 
wards of two hundred pounds of honey, and so packed 
with beautiful flakes of pure, white comb, inter- 
sected by roads and paths, that every one, unac- 
quainted with the peculiar, instinctive habits of 
the bee, views it as a great curiosity. The additional 
convenience now contemplated, is a glass floor, 
to enable me to look upward, with a light at the 
top ; I hope for some insight into their, out-of-sight 
economy. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 87 

Without reference to theories, or, indeed the 
facts of writers, I have given you the results of 
my personal observations. 

Very respectfully and obediently, yours, 

Jerome V. C. Smith. 



To J. V. C. Smith, M. D. 

Plymouth, Dec. 30, 1830. 

Dear Sir, — The perusal of your interesting 
observations has afforded me the greatest degree 
of satisfaction, and for which I beg you will accept 
of my respectful acknowledgments. The sub- 
ject of bees has for several years occupied a con- 
siderable share of my attention ; but for want of a 
glass hive and a microscope I have been unable to 
make any particular theoretical discovery, or any 
new observations respecting their internal economy. 
I am indeed greatly disappointed, and surprised to 
learn that with your excellent hive you have not 
had the pleasure of recognising the queen ; such 
negative evidence however will not shake the 
general faith so firmly established in her majesty's 
existence and sovereign dominion. Your queen 
was undoubtedly in her dignified retirement in the 
interior of the original hive, while her subjects were 
in the exercise of their functions in the glass hive. 

Some polite ladies have complimented me with 
the suggestion that the bee fraternity ought to 
erect a monument of wax to my memory ; but I 



88 CUTIVATION OF BEES. 

will cheerfully resign my claim to that honor in 
favor of your superior merit. I am exceedingly 
gratified with the history of your ' philosophical 
apiary,' and hope you will continue to pursue your 
investigations until you add to our common stock 
some important improvement in the history and 
character of our favorite little insects. Your expe- 
dient of marking the bees, has, it seems, satisfied 
you that there is a class which are employed as 
architects exclusively. But still it may be inquired 
whether they are preferred, as we prefer the most 
skilful artists, because they are enabled, by supe- 
rior ingenuity or by long experience, to execute the 
work in a manner more advantageous than their 
compeers in common ? I have no idea that insects 
are endowed with the faculty of improving by ex- 
perience, or deviating from the routine prescribed 
for them by their Creator. In regard to your 
observation that bees are sometimes remiss in their 
labors, or that coercion is resorted to for the pur- 
pose of exciting to industry, it is highly probable that 
capital punishments are inflicted, and that the dead 
bodies you have seen thrust out of the hive occa- 
sionally are those of the executed criminals. I 
regret that you were deprived of the pleasure of 
witnessing the exit of the spider that so auda- 
ciously intruded himself into your hive. It may 
appear strange that bees do not on such occasions 
make use of their wings which enable them to 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 89 

dart upon an object with great rapidity. But in the 
art of war it is prudent to attack an enemy by regular 
approaches, and thus acted the bees towards the 
spider's fortress. Are then these little insect 
bodies inspired by a soul, or can matter think ? 
Surely your account of bees elevating pieces of 
comb by building pillars under them, and their art- 
ful conduct towards the spider, similar to the human 
warrior, are precisely analogous to human intelli- 
gence. 

I cannot concede to your position that an ' egg 
is deposited in every cell of honey throughout the 
hive.' There appears full evidence on examination, 
and all authorities agree, that specific cells are as- 
signed for the reception of honey, and for the eggs 
which produce the young brood. But, my friend, 
you must no longer be skeptical as to the existence 
of a ruling queen. 

I am yours in all sincerity, 

James Thacher. 



Doctor Thacher having presented Doctor 
Smith's letter to Mrs. Mary Griffith, of Char- 
lieshope. New Jersey, was favored with the fol- 
lowing observations from that accomplished lady. 

Dr. Thacher, 

Dear Sir, — Many are the fables about bees, 
but the fact of the existence of the one denom- 



90 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

mated queen bee is a reality. If anything can be 
relied on as a certainty in the history of this curi- 
ous insect — the bee — it is that there is never more 
than one female in the hive, excepting when a new 
swarm goes from the hive. One other fact I must 
mention, which is, that bees do not sting one another. 
Their mode of warfare is to gnaw or bite each 
other under the wings. This they do either when 
engaged in a regular battle in the air, which some- 
times occurs, or when tliey act on the defensive 
at the door of their hives. I never saw one bee 
sting another, but I have known them to thrust out 
their sting when in the agonies of death by smoth- 
ering ; their sting, thus thrown out in madness, 
will sometimes lodge in the body of another bee, 
but I am sure that they do not inflict Avounds with 
their sting. By gnawing their enemy under the 
wing, they disable him from fighting and from en- 
tering the hive. They destroy all the drones in 
this way. I have seen two and three bees at a 
time gnawing under the wings of one drone ; hun- 
dreds of drones may be seen crawling on the 
ground unable to fly ; of course they soon perish. 
I shall send you by the first opportunity a queen 
bee, and will send one to your friend Dr. Smith 
also, as I have four of them in good preservation. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 91 

[Mrs. Griffith's second letter.] 

To Dr. Thacher. 

Dear Sir, — You tell me to answer your ques- 
tions at my leisure ; nothing but very pressing busi- 
ness, which I cannot plead at present, ought to pre- 
vent me from replying to your letter immediately. 
It would not be becoming in me, to show less zeal 
in a pursuit which is as interesting to me as to you. 
The four queen bees were obtained, when dead, 
from four smothered swarms. If any of your neigh- 
bors smother their bees, you can gather up all the 
dead bodies carefully, and spread them out on a 
large table, and on close search you will find the 
queen ; she is the largest and lightest colored bee 
in the swarm, with shorter Avings and proboscis than 
the rest. She can never be mistaken in summer 
for a drone, for he is a larger, heavy made, thick 
insect, even darker than a working bee, with wings 
covering its whole body ; and she cannot be taken 
for a drone in tointer, for not a single drone escapes 
the general massacre of August and September^ 
Many are the swarms that I have examined, but I 
never yet saw a drone after September. They are 
not suffered to live an instant after the vivification 
of the last deposition of eggs, and they only make 
their appearance in the spring, at the precise time 
when they are wanted to hatch the newly laid eggs. 
You say that I have suggested a new idea respect- 
ing the mode of warfare among bees, and you add 



92 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

that if my sng-gestions be true, what becomes of 
Huber's testimony to the contrary ?* 

My dear sir, how frequently must you have seen 
theory after theory crumble away, and others of 
dissimilar character occupy their place. In medi- 
cine — you are a medical man — from Hippocrates 
down to our Dr. Rush, who was the last system- 
monger, how has each theory prevailed for a time ! 
Huber was undoubtedly an honest man, but he was 
nearly blind, and Avhen we know how much depends 
on clear vision, we cannot, or rather ought not, to 
receive all that he says as correct truth. It is true 
that his secretary, FrAxXcis Burmen, acted for him, 
but it would indeed be marvellous if this assistant 
were as deeply interested, of as strict integrity, and 
as well qualified by genius and talent to investigate 
so minute, perplexing and difficult a history as 
Huber was himself. No stain therefore should 
rest on the fame of a naturalist so deserving of our 
respect and admiration. As to Francis Burmen, 



* Huber asserts, lliat being desirous of witnessing' the scene 
of carnage, he placed six hives on a glass tal)le, and placed 
himself and assistant beneath it. On the 4th of July, the 
working bees actually massacred the males in the whole six 
hives, at the same hour and with the same peculiarities. The 
glass table was covered with bees full of animation, which, flew 
o\\ the drones, seized them by the antennse, the wings and limbs, 
and alter having dragged them about, the}' killed the unfortu- 
nate victims by repealed stings directed between the rings of 
the belly. The moment that their formidable weapon touched 
them, was the last of their existence; lliey stretched themselves 
out and expired. J. T. 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 93 

I would not accuse him of wilful misrepresentation ; 
he only reported to Huber what he thought he saw. 
He had some knowledge of the 'doctrine of conse- 
quences.' Bees have stings ; when annoyed by an 
animal, they sting it ; consequently when enraged 
by one another, they revenge themselves by inflict- 
ing a mortal wound with their stings ; so reasoned 
Francis Burmen and a host of others. This ad- 
mitted of further proof, if the shadow of a doubt 
ever passed over their minds, by the circumstance 
of the curving of the body of the bee when engaged 
in fight. The fact is, when we consider the length 
and weight of the lower part of the body compared 
with the upper part, we shall perceive that this 
curve is unavoidable ; it is a natural contraction of 
muscles, and it occurs whenever the mind is agitated. 
I have an excellent microscope, and from long prac- 
tice I can manage it adroitly ; but on the closest 
examination, I have never yet seen a hole in the 
dead body of a vanquished bee. If bees sting one 
another, why do they not sting the drones ? I have 
sat for hours during their massacre, for the purpose 
of ascertaining this fact ; but although my eye was 
within two feet of the platform, I am certain that 
710 sti7ig ever ivas protruded. It was really an 
arduous task to kill a large drone. It sometimes 
required two or three bees to disable him. The 
drones have no sting, there was no fear therefore 
of their acting offensively, and their death would 



94 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

only occupy a moment of time, by means of a sting". 
Even Avhen a battle takes place in the air, the bees 
never use their sting. I have, when upwards of 
20,000 of the slain have laid on the ground, seen as 
many as a dozen bees attached to eacli other by 
means of their stings, and daring the agonies of 
death, by smothering, I have frequently seen the 
bees with disrupted entrails in consequence of their 
inability to extract their sting*. But in both these 
cases the natural instinct of the insect was gone. 
In the first case these few, when they were brought 
down to the ground by their adversary, and were 
maddened by rage and pain, were no longer under 
the control of their instinct. It is what is under- 
stood by running a muck, using a deadly instrument 
indiscriminately without any preconcerted, or defi- 
nite plan. And in the case of smothered bees, I 
have more frequently seen their stings attached to 
the lumps of melted brimstone and earth than to one 
another. I wish I could satisfy myself equally Avell 
as to the use of the farina or bee-bread ; for the bee- 
bread, you know, is nothing more than layers of little 
pellets, well packed down in the cells by the bees. 
These pellets are put in the cells exactly as they 
are taken from the flowers, showing when the cell 
is opened all the diflerent shades of yellow which 
the pellets exhibited on the thighs of the bees, and 
only acquiring that uniformity of color, and bitter, 
acrid, offensive taste by heat and age. I am as ig- 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 95 

norant at this moment for what purpose tliis bee- 
bread is brought into the hive, as I was when I 
first commenced the investigation. The maggots 
are not fed with it, that is certain ; and it is quite 
as certain that it does not enter into the composi- 
tion of wax. The nearest guess that I can make 
towards the truth is, that it is the principal ingre- 
dient of propolis, or bee-glue, which you know is 
distinct in its nature and properties from wax.* 

As to wax, I consider it as a secretion. I have 
had no means of ascertaining whether it be volun- 
tarily raised from the stomach, or from any other 
viscus or organ. Wherever it may be elaborated, 
its first appearance as tvax, is from the mouth. If 

* I readily concede to the position of Mrs. G., that farina or 
bee-bread is not designed as food for the young brood, nor is it 
an ingredient in the composition of wax, as formerly supposed. 
But that it is of important use in their economy is unquestion- 
able ; it is undoubted!}^ eaten by the bees, and it has been 
asserted by some writer, that a hive of bees, however amply 
supplied with honey, cannot subsist through the winter without 
a store of bee-bread. It is apparent to every observer, that 
these insects are empln^'ed from the latter part of March, to late 
in October, in collecting pollen as well as honey, and storing it 
in their hives to a very considerable amount. One writer has 
asserted that there has been found in a single hive the extra- 
ordinary quanlit}^ of one hundred pounds.f From this fact it 
may be concluded that farina is not intended for the formation 
of propolis, of which a few ounces will suffice all the purposes of 
a hive ; farina moreover possesses no agglutinant property^ 
which is essentia! in the formation of bee-glue. 

It may be noticed, as proof that bees eat bee-bread, that, 
in the spring, especially, numerous yellow spots are observed on 
the floor-board and about the hive, having the appearance of 
farina evacuated by the bees. J. T. 

t Mease's edition of Willich's Encyclopedia, article Bee-bread. 



96 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

Dr. Smith have any cause to value my opinions, he 
can soon satisfy himself of this truth. For although 
he cannot g"ain much consecutive knowledge by 
"watching the operations of the bees through a glass 
hive, these insects being very impatient of such 
inspection, yet for a second or two he can see 
enough to convince him that wax is a visceral secre- 
tion, and not an exudition from the pores of the 
body, as some authors imagine. I would not hurt 
Dr. Smith's feelings, by showing what little know- 
ledge I posesss when it goes to prove him in error. 
But of what use is my experience, or any experi- 
ence, if it is not to benefit others ? The very mis- 
takes that he has made, show so much minute 
attention, and his remarks are so sensible, that I 
forsee you will find in him an able coadjutor. It 
will not pain him, I am sure, to be told that he has 
started wrong. When a glass door is suddenly 
opened, the glare of light surprises the bees ; they 
become confused and run about without any appa- 
rent object. I must except those who are employed 
in building comb, they are generally less affected 
by external interruption than the other workers. 
Those bees, too, which come in loaded with pellets 
of bee-bread, will generally move forward and de- 
posit their load, but there is soon a general dis- 
turbance, and many false conclusions must be drawn 
from their mode of proceeding. 

What Dr. Smith says of dressing or cleaning 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 97 

one another is true ; when a hee comes in ' travel- 
soiled,' one or more bees immediately surround him, 
relieve him of his pellet or honey, and then nibble 
at him as it were from head to tail, and when they 
release him, he is as fresh and vigorous as ever. 
What the Doctor suggests about punishments is 
true enough. The bees which he has seen drao-aed 
out, apparently in full health, were intruders, or they 
were disabled in some way or other. If a bee 
droop on his return from an excursion, and is not 
invigorated after being ministered to, he is imme- 
diately destroyed. They do not allow a crippled 
or sick bee to remain an instant in the hive ; there 
cannot be an idler among them ; even those who are 
apparently idle at the entrance, or on the side of 
the hive, have some part of the policy assigned 
them. The noises which are made by the rapid 
motion of their wings is for some purpose ; cer- 
tainly ; when the motion of the wings occurs at the 
door of the hive, it is to serve as ventilation. 
I am yours, very respectfully, 

M. Griffith. 



BEES. 

The Editor of the Windsor, Vt. Chronicle, after copy- 
ing Dr. Smith's article on bees from a late New England 
Farmer, has added the following remarks : 

Dr. Smith doubts the existence of the queen bee. 
Now we have never heard a bee promulgating laws 
8* 



98 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

or appointing subordinate officers, &c. but we have 
seen what may perhaps be worth telling of. 

There was an empty hive at the north end of 
the bee house, intended for the next swarm. From 
the hive next south, a swarm had issued, and after 
flying about for a while, returned. The reason 
assigned by the owner was, that the queen was 
unable to fly. A day or two after, the swarm 
came out again and soon began to return as before. 
It occurred to us, that possibly her majesty, in at- 
tempting to fly, might have fallen to the ground. 
Stepping in front of the hive, we saw, six or eight 
feet from its mouth, some twenty bees, flying 
about near a tuft of grass ; and on drawing nearer 
we saw perched upon a blade of grass, a bee, 
about as long as a drone, but much more slender, — 
the back of a brighter black, and the legs reddish, 
— evidently neither a drone nor a working bee. 
A stick being presented to this singular insect, she 
crept upon it, and was carried upon it to the 
mouth of the empty hive before mentioned. A 
few bees had alighted at its mouth. These im- 
mediately followed her into the hive. Some of 
them soon returned, and ran, evidently as fast as 
they were able, to the old hive, the stool and front 
of which were covered with the returning swarm. 
Having arrived among these, the messengers, for 
such they appeared to be, would occasionally stop, 
and shake themselves violently, swinging or rather 



CULTIVATION OF BEES. 99 

Tocking themselves from right to left and the con- 
trary, as they are sometimes seen to do at and 
about the time of swarming. This motion was 
invariably followed by a general scampering of 
the surrounding bees to the hive. Some of these 
messengers entered the old hive, where their ope- 
rations were out of sight ; but their entrance was 
soon followed by the pouring out of multitudes, 
who made their way with all possible speed to the 
new hive. In a few moments the odd looking bee, 
picked up on the grass, was surrounded with a re- 
spectable swarm, all was quiet, the usual labors of 
bees commenced, and in the end, a good summer's 
work of honey-making was done. — This, and 
having seen a number of bees of the same ap- 
pearance, but never more than one in a hive, is all 
we know by our own eyes, about a queen among 
bees. 



Having now completed the design in view when 
this manuscript was commenced, I cannot leave 
it without remarking, that my heresy in rela- 
tion to the queen bee, has been a prolific source of 
vexation to me ; and yet, in no instance have I 
positively denied her existence, though I believe no 
department of natural history was ever more 



100 CULTIVATION OF BEES. 

shackled with inexcusable errors. A course of 
experiments of the most satisfactory and convincing 
kind, are now in progress, the results of which will 
be published as soon as I have brought them to a 
close. I wish also, in this place, to acknowledge 
my indebtedness to Mrs. Griffith of New Jersey, 
for a bee, forwarded to Boston through the post- 
office, which she assures me, not in words, but in 
the exhibition of the insect itself, is a queen. 



APPENDIX. 



DR. TEACHER'S HIVE. 



Fig. 1. 




Fig. 1. This is a view in outline of a very valuable 
hive. The box is to be from one foot to twenty inches 
square. A back view, as presented in the above diagram, 
shows that there is a horizontal floor passing through the 
middle, dividing it into two equal apartments. In the 
lower, are cross bars for suspending the comb, as common 
to all hives. In the upper room, are two drawers, side 
by side, as represented, just filling the whole space. 
Through the bottom of these drawers, are small orifices, 
corresponding with two others through the horizontal 
flooring. Thus, it will be clearly understood, when the 
drawers are entirely in, the holes will correspond, so that 
the bees can run freely from the lower to the upper 



102 



APPENDIX. 



apartments or drawers. At the outside extremity of the 
drawers, (the one in sight,) a pane of glass is grooved in, 
through which it can be ascertained what state of forward- 
ness the deposition of honey is in. Outside of that, on a 
line with the box, is a slide door, represented, on the 
left side, as raised up, the object of which is to closO' 
it, for the exclusion of light. When the drawer is 
drawn out, a slip of tin is slid over the lower opening, to 
keep the bees below. First one drawer, then the other 
may be taken out, alternating, according to circumstances. 



Fig. 2. 




TnTiniiiiniTITlTIIImiiiiimnmlliiiimli 

Jilllillhi::-: 




Fig. 2. This is a front view of the doctor's bee-house, 
— being made large enough to hold two hives, as will be 
noticed by the two lighting boards : no particular descrip- 
tion is necessary, as its shape can be recognized. The 
door-way in the house should exactly correspond with 
the door-way of the hive, which is put in at the back 
side. 



APPENDIX. 
Fig. 3. 



103 




Fig. 3. The back view of the same house presents 
folding doors, wliich open for receiving and removing the 
hives. Trunk handles, on the ends are very impor- 
tant in carrying the whole from plac to place. 



MRS. GRIFFITH'S HIVE. 




This is Mrs. Griffith's invention. A frame work, 
like the skeleton of a table, receives a hive, shaped 



104 APPENDIX. 

like the drawing. The floor, seen to project in front for 
a lighting board, is hung on the back side by hinges, and 
held up in place, by hooks. If the hooks are off duty, 
the floor, of course, falls down. From the floor, up to the 
frame, there is one large, wedged shaped room : at this 
level is a horizontal floor, perforated by several small 
holes. The top of the hive, that part which is seen pro- 
jecting above the frame, is a cap, to be taken off. 

In the lower apartment, the kitchen of the hive, the 
bees do their principal work, but pass upward through 
the little holes, into the cap, when there is no more room 
below. Cups, tumblers, &c. turned over these orifices, 
will be filled with h ley , precisely as the drawers are filled 
in the Thacher hive. The advantages then, contemplated 
in this hive, are the additional ones of ventilation, by 
dropping the floor in hot weather, and at the same time 
being enabled to take the honey. 

I am free to say that the more I examine this hive, the 
better I like it.* 



Description of the Frontispiece. 
This is a gothic edifice which has a beautiful appear- 
ance in a yard or grove, when neatly made. As re- 
marked in the text, it should stand on a single piflar. Its 

* Since making a free remark on the structure of hives, page 41, 
I have been informed tliat Mr. E. Beard, of Brigliton, whose pre- 
parations for the successful culture of the bee, deserves the commen- 
dation and encouragement of the community, has offered a patent 
hive, of his own invention, that meets the approbation of experienced 
apiarians. I have not yet been so fortunate as to see it, but am dis- 
posed to believe what is said of it. 



APPENDIX. 



105 



dimensions, being constructed for holding only one hive, 
and that a glass one, (represented in this instance with 
the case off,) are as follows, viz : Breadth of the floor, 
four feet six inches ; height of the walls, between floors, 
four feet ten inches. The breadth of the arches, four in 
number, between the towers, four also in number, must 
depend on the taste of the architect. A curtain, on pul- 
lies, like a common window curtain, is to be suspended at 
each arch, in order to close up the hive in stormy weather, 
or when the bees are inspected, in order to guard the 
observers. 



Description of the Bee-house on page 24. 

This is a plan of an ornamental bee-house. The pro- 
portions, when made by a skilful workman, are very fine 
indeed. Its diameter, (being round,) should be four feet 
six inches ; height of the pillars, four feet eight inches, 
by six inches diameter, at the base. The dome is 
easily made of sheet lead, over rough boards ; the pillar 
on which it stands, should be about three feet out of the 
ground. 



For the most perfect and beautiful specimen of an orna- 
mental Bee-house, in the form of a prostyle temple, either 
in Boston or its vicinity, I can with confidence refer gen- 
9 



106 APPENDIX. 

tlemen to one erected at the country seat of Charles 
Tappan, Esq. at BrookUne. The dome, covered with 
sheet lead, is supported on eight pillars. It was made by 
Mr. Benjamin Turner, an ingenious workman in Harvard 
Place, opposite the Old South Church, Boston. 




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